Proof of Existence
by Pureauthor
Summary: /FE:SS/ What if everything you had ever known, everything you had ever believed... was a lie? /SemiAU/ /FranzXAmelia... kind of/
1. Prologue: Betwixt and Between

Twilit Nightfall

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Disclaimer: I own nothing

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Prologue: Betwixt and Between

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The mood was festive.

Unsurprising, considering that a massive celebration was being planned. The coronation of King Ephraim was fast approaching, and it marked the brightest spot in recent memory, considering the massive devastation the entire continent had suffered.

Even now, as the setting sun drenched the courtyard in hues of gold, harried members rushed to and fro, preparing for the event. Courtiers and pageboys scampered towards the castle, farmhands drove carts laden with foodstuffs towards the kitchens, and the knights supervised the proceedings with wry smiles on their faces.

Unnoticed amidst the chaos, Franz weaved nimbly through the thronging crowd, heading for the main castle gates, a wide smile etched onto his face. In his hand was clutched a roll of paper.

But this was no ordinary sheet of paper. Oh, no. What was contained within merited the care and concern the young knight was lavishing upon the flattened piece of wood pulp. Not that Franz actually knew what wood pulp was, but that's neither here nor there.

As he dodged a baker hauling a huge sack of flour towards the side gates, his grin widened as he caught sight of the person he had been looking for standing at the far end of the area. Quickening his pace, Franz closed the gap between the two of them rapidly.

"Amelia!" The blonde recruit turned at the sound of her name, a shy smile blossoming on her face as she caught sight of Franz.

"Franz? What is it?"

The knight merely grinned as he handed her the rolled up scroll. Raising an eyebrow, Amelia unfurled it, then turned back to Franz, a dubious look on her face.

"Franz, in your excitement to reveal this oh-so stunning bit of news to me, might it have slipped your mind that I can't read?"

It was standard practice for Renaitian knights to be taught how to read and write on at least a basic level. Franz had never questioned the uniqueness or validity of this standard, so it had come as a bit of a surprise to him that knights from the neighbouring countries had never been imparted with any such skill. In any case, Amelia had joined up as a foot- soldier and had never sworn any vow, so it was a moot point at best.

Taking back the scroll with a sheepish smile, Franz flipped it over so he could read, and began. "As of the third day of the fifth month of the first year of the reign of King Ephraim, Amelia of Silva, formerly a soldier in the Grado army, is to be knighted under the Order of the Silver Dragon and responsibilities and authority in accordance with her stature – "

He was cut off by a squeal of excitement from Amelia. "I made it? I'm a knight of Renais? For real?"

"I haven't finished yet." Franz replied with a wry smile. Taking back the paper, he continued. "Recruit Amelia is to be present at the throne room at the passing of the third watch one day after the release of this proclamation, whereupon she will receive the emblem and armour of office, and swear a vow of allegiance to King Ephraim, sole Lord and Monarch of the Kingdom of Renais."

He looked up. "Congratulations, Amelia. You did it."

"…" Amelia closed her eyes and let loose a long sigh of relief, calming down somewhat. "I thought for sure I'd failed. You know how tough the training programme was?"

Franz laughed. "You probably did better than me. I think I made it through by the skin of my teeth. You should go get yourself prepared, though. You'll need to shine your armour, wash up, and all that."

Amelia nodded and turned, heading towards the castle. After a few steps, she stopped and turned back. "Thanks for coming to tell me."

"Anytime."

* * *

"I do hereby swear fealty and loyalty to the King Ephraim, reigning monarch of the Kingdom of Renais, to serve him faithfully as my Lord and to love him as I would love myself, in living or dying, until my Lord release me, or death take me."

Franz, standing at attention, couldn't help but crack the smallest of smiles as he watched Amelia kneeling before the throne. Though he couldn't see Amelia's expression from his vantage point, he had a pretty good idea how she was feeling – especially since he'd been through pretty much the same thing about two years back.

Despite the nervousness she had to be experiencing, she uttered her oath with a clear, steady voice. King Ephraim, for his part, looked appropriately regal, stern yet kindly, the way a king preceding over the knighting of a subject should look.

"This I do henceforth swear." Amelia finished, raising her head to look at the King in the eye.

King Ephraim rose, and extended his scepter towards Amelia. If not for his disciplinary training, Franz might have smirked at this apparent display of pretentiousness – so unlike Ephraim, but ceremony was ceremony.

"This I have heard, and this I have accepted." Ephraim began. "I hereby dub thee, Amelia, a knight of the order of –"

**KzzCHT! SKREEEEE!**

Franz jerked instinctively at the harsh sound on his ears, hand automatically finding its way to his sword hilt as he glanced around to find the source of the strange screeching noise.

What he got was a sea of confused faces staring at him. No one else seemed to have noticed anything out of the particular, and Franz was left two steps in front of the ranks, looking like an idiot. General Seth, in particular, seemed rather chagrined that Franz would be acting such.

Slowly, his arm left his sword hilt. Stepping back into the ranks, Franz closed his eyes, feeling his cheek and necks burn. Ephraim had had the presence of mind to not let the ceremony be interrupted by one wayward knight, and his voice filled the air as Franz prayed desperately for the earth to simply swallow him up.

* * *

Amelia headed down the hallway, humming an indistinct tune to herself, when one of the guards she knew by name called her.

"Amelia! Congratulations on the promotion!"

"Oh, you heard about it, Jace?"

"I think just about everyone has. Everyone who knows you knew you'd make the cut."

Amelia smiled tiredly. "Thanks. I mean it."

Jace nodded. "So where are you headed off to now?"

"I need to fix something. During the knighting ceremony, it seems one of the RDF packets jammed and interfered with the sound output."

"Oh… Franz noticed, huh?"

"Yeah, he practically jumped two feet into the air and spun around looking for the source of all that noise. I have to make sure something like that doesn't happen again." Amelia rubbed her forehead tiredly. "In fact, I should probably go check up on him soon."

* * *

Franz sat in the castle gardens, whittling away at a piece of wood, and trying his best not to think about how he had made a _complete and utter fool out of himself during the knighting ceremony_.

Of course, he wasn't very successful at this particular venture.

"Franz?"

He looked up. "Amelia." Then he sighed. "Sorry about what happened during…"

"Don't be silly." Amelia grinned. "There was no real harm done."

"Not unless you count General Seth reprimanding me about proper behaviour during courtly proceedings." Franz managed a tired smile. "What about you? How do you plan on celebrating your official knighting? The day I was knighted, Forde dragged me to this wreck of a tavern and made me spend the night drinking rum. I didn't recover for a week."

Amelia let out a short laugh, before settling down on the wooden bench next to Franz. "I dunno, I thought I'd spend the day with my favourite person. Sounds like a good enough celebration."

Franz reached over and held Amelia's hand tightly. "Definitely like the way you think, Amelia."

The two of them sat in silence for several seconds, before Amelia spoke up. "Franz?"

"Hm?"

"I don't mean to drag you through that again, but why'd you suddenly jump during the ceremony?"

"Huh? Oh, it's just… there was this weird _noise_."

"Noise?"

"Yeah, it was a screeching sound of some sort. Sounded very close, like it was right in my ear or something. Did you hear anything out of the ordinary?"

"No, can't say I did."

Franz shook his head. "Whatever it was, it's gone now – no reason to make a big fuss over it."

Amelia seemed to consider this for a second before nodding and leaning in closer. "Yeah. No reason to worry, I suppose."

They sat there in silence, each enjoying the other's company.

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End Prologue

Thank you for reading. Please review.


	2. Chapter 1: Naught's Approach

Proof of Existence

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Chapter 1: Naught's Approach

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Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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It was more or less a given that with the large amounts of monsters still roaming the countryside, knights of the land were often tasked with sallying forth among the realm and slaying these foul cretin.

For the sake of safety and preservation of life, knights setting off on these hunting quests were ordered to travel in groups of three, minimum. Of course, traveling with people whom you had fought alongside before was generally encouraged, as the potential for teamwork was that much increased.

Franz sighed and pulled back on the reins of his horse, halting it. "So, where's the monster nest supposed to be, again?"

"West of here." Forde replied distractedly as he peered at his map. "Apparently a bunch of trekkers stumbled upon them by accident. Only two made it back to safety."

Behind both of them, Amelia sighed as she guided her own steed into alignment with the other two. Franz shook his head, knowing all too well what she was thinking. Every single time they started thinking that the monsters appearances were dying down, more would appear, more would be killed, and the knights would have to set out again, meaning more potential casualties to the army of Renais.

"So, Amelia." Forde said, breaking the silence as he urged his horse into a trot. "This is your first mission as a knight, isn't it?"

Amelia smiled slightly. "Yeah, but I've already participated in these monster hunting expeditions before. I can take care of myself – you don't need to worry."

"Mm." Forde nodded. "This shouldn't pose too much of a problem, even with only three of us."

Franz nodded. "It's difficult for the really dangerous monsters to conceal themselves well, considering the fact that they're generally bigger. This shouldn't pose too much of a threat."

"Glad to see we're all feeling confident." Forde unsheathed his blade. "Well then, shall we?"

* * *

Franz reached up, parting the bushes in front of his face, and giving him a good view of the clearing. He saw three, no, four Mauthe Doogs, and one Gwyllgi. It was about the standard size of a hunting pack for these creatures.

Right now, however, they were feasting on the remains of a fairly recent kill, with all of the lupine creatures tearing savagely at their prey's flesh. Snarls and yelps were all too common among the clearing, which was what had drawn them towards this spot in the first place.

Behind him, Amelia shifted her grip on her lance nervously. "When do we move?" She whispered.

"Right about…" Franz was cut off midsentence by the sharp _crack!_ of a tree branch. Instantly, all seven heads whipped up to stare into the undergrowth opposite the two knights.

"Now." Franz finished as he leapt through the trees, sword in hand. Behind him, Amelia charged out, the silver tip of her lance aimed straight at the heart of the tri-headed Gwyllgi.

The creature dodged with a howl of surprise and anger, and would have leapt at Amelia had not one of the Mauthe Doogs taken the initiative to do so first, blocking it's more dangerous counterpart's attempts. Amelia sidestepped the lunge and stabbed at the creature's foot, with a screech of pain as her reward.

Meanwhile, Franz was busy fending off two of the beasts, sword blurring and clanging against the fanged teeth. The creatures were attacking haphazardly, but their speed made up for their lack of tactical ability, and Franz was hard pressed to land a killing blow.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noted the last of the Mauthe Doogs had circled around, and was now preparing to lunge straight at his unprotected back. Of course, it _had_ to have been when he was so thoroughly occupied.

The last Mauthe Doog bared it's fangs, gave an inhuman growl, and-

"Bad dog! No biscuit!"

A sword blade slashed through the creature's spine, and it collapsed, twitching, onto the ground.

"Cutting it kinda close, aren't we?" Franz shot at his elder brother as he twisted his sword around, finally managing to draw blood from one of his opponents.

"Aw, I knew it was nothing you couldn't handle." Forde called as he moved to engage the Gwyllgi, preventing the three heads from giving Amelia more than she could deal with on her own.

Franz finally managed to score a killing blow on the previously wounded Mauthe Doog, and whirled to face his last foe. Without any backup, the second creature fell quickly as well.

Elsewhile, Amelia had just finished off her own Mauthe Doog, and ran up to aid Forde. As the more reckless knight kept the heads distracted with fancy swordplay, Amelia drove her lance deep into the creature's haunch, causing the Gwyllgi to scream and stagger. That opportunity was all Forde needed, and a quick thrust to the chest left another corpse in the clearing.

Franz sighed and began wiping off blood from his sword. Sometimes he couldn't help wondering if he should feel sorry for these creatures. Sure, they were living embodiments of darkness and evil and all that, but they had certainly never asked to be created, and in any case, their only goal right now was to survive – certainly not be organized into a gigantic army of darkness and overrun the continent as they likely would have done in the days of the Demon King.

"Maybe I'm just thinking too much." He finally mumbled to himself as he sheathed his sword.

"Huh? Did you say something, Franz?" Amelia asked.

"No, nothing." Franz turned to face her. "I'm fine-"

The snarl was completely unexpected, and the blur that slammed into his back even more so. Franz was sent sprawling, and even as he twisted around, trying to draw his sword to meet this new threat, he saw the glowing red eyes of the _fifth_ Mauthe Doog as it lunged at his throat.

In a single instant of absolute clarity, Franz knew that he would never be able to block, dodge, or otherwise survive the creature's charge, and even as he raised his hand in a futile effort to ward off the strike, he saw the opened maw, hot drool dripping from it, sharp serrated, blood encrusted teeth aiming for his neck, and he closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

…

…

After about a minute in that position, Franz noted that there was a distinct lack of teeth chewing at his neck. There was also a distinct lack of growling, snarling, drooling, or any other sounds that typically indicated that a ravenous monster was about to kill you.

Cautiously, Franz peeked one eye open, then glanced around the clearing cautiously.

Four Mauthe Doog corpses, one Gwyllgi corpse, and both Forde and Amelia, staring at him with puzzled looks on their faces. No sign of the last monster.

"W-where'd it go?" He blurted out.

"Where'd what go?" Forde flashed him an easy grin. "What, did you trip or something, brother? Bad form for a knight, you know."

"Huh? No, I mean –" Franz glanced around the clearing. "That last monster. Where'd it go?"

"Last monster?" Forde asked.

"You know." Franz was getting irritated, not to mention a little worried. "The one that charged out from the bushes? The one that was slammed into me and knocked me over? The one that was three seconds away from killing me when it just upped and vanished for no reason? _That_ monster?"

Forde frowned. "Did you bump your head or something, Franz? Maybe we'd better get you back home."

Franz gave an exasperated sigh and turned to Amelia. "Amelia. You saw that monster, didn't you? _Didn't you?_"

She lowered her head, refusing to look Franz in the eye. "…"

"Amelia…" Whatever Franz had been planning to say died on his lips.

* * *

As the trio of riders plodded through the gateway of Castle Renais, Franz kept his head bowed, as he tried desperately to make sense of it all.

The monster _had_ been there, and it _had_ attacked him. Yet neither Forde nor Amelia had seen it, and the monster had apparently vanished.

What was going on? He shut his eyes for a moment, feeling more and more confused.

Shaking his head, he glanced up in time to see General Seth coming up to meet them, and Forde giving him a verbal report on their mission.

His heart sunk as he noticed General Seth frowning and shooting a slight glance in his direction. Just what he needed.

Closing his eyes and shaking his head, he guided his mount to the stables as he tried to forget that anything really out of the ordinary had happened.

* * *

"What's wrong, Amelia? You look… grumpy."

"That would be because I _am _grumpy." She sighed. "A Mauthe Doog caught Franz unawares. He would have been killed."

"But nothing's changed on the… Wait a minute, you didn't -?"

"What else could I do? It's not like we can afford to lose him."

"But he noticed. He had to."

"Of _course_ he did." Amelia sighed again, and ran a hand through her hair. "I just hope any other interference will be minimal. It's not like we don't have enough problems configuring the grid…"

"Breakdown is that severe?"

"Not yet, but unless we do something soon, it will be." She shook her head and stood to leave. "I've got work to do."

* * *

_Kzcht. Kzcht. Kzcht. Kzcht. Kzcht._

Franz rubbed at his ear in a futile attempt to get whatever was making that incessant noise to go away. It had been dogging him for the past hour or so ever since he had gotten back to his quarters, and it showed no signs whatsoever of disappearing.

As the increasingly desperate knight tried to find something to stuff into his ears (an act which he subconsciously knew wasn't going to work anyway, considering that jamming his fingers in earlier hadn't helped one bit), there was knocking at the door.

"Franz? Are you there?"

"Amelia? Is that you?" He replied distractedly.

"Yes. Can I come in?" He heard a tone in her voice that indicated she clearly felt something was wrong.

Sighing, Franz walked over and opened the door. To his immense relief, the irritating sound in his ears died away as the door opened.

"Amelia? What is it?"

She was biting her lip, a mannerism Franz had come to realize meant she was uncomfortable with whatever the situation currently was.

"Franz… is there something wrong?"

"Something wrong?"

"You've been acting… strange, lately. Especially today, with that incident in the forest. Did something happen?"

_Did something happen? Maybe. I don't know._ Franz sighed. "I don't think so. Maybe I'm just tired."

Amelia was clearly unconvinced. "Franz…"

Franz managed a smile. "Don't worry about me, Amelia. I can take care of myself."

Amelia nodded. "I know you can. I just want to help."

_And I don't want to burden you._ Franz thought. "Alright, Amelia. If there's anything I feel I need your help in – anything at all – I'll come and look for you. Deal?"

That finally got a smile and a chuckle from her. "Deal." Then she glanced behind her. "I've got guard duty on, see you later."

"Yeah. Later."

As the door closed behind him, Franz turned and stumbled towards his cot –

And slammed face-first into an invisible wall.

Backing away and rubbing his forehead, Franz reached out cautiously and prodded the area that he had walked into. His hands met what appeared to be a completely invisible mass that had prevented him from walking to the bed. It held for a couple of seconds before seemingly dissolving away.

"What in-" He began

Before Franz could say another word, however, the entire room was plunged into pitch for an instant, before reverting to normal. Then it flickered again, and Franz took a half-step back in apprehension.

As whatever it was died away, the young knight was left looking around the room in complete bewilderment.

"What's going on here?" He said to himself. "What's… what's happening to me?"

* * *

Thank you for reading. Please review. 


	3. Chapter 2: Nothing's Call

Proof of Existence

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Chapter 2: Nothing's Call

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Disclaimer: I own nothing.

(X)

It was long, unhappy, and generally sleepless night for the young cavalier as he tried desperately to figure out what was happening to him.

As the night wore on, Franz pulled up one theory after another, each one wilder than the last. He was delusional, there was some sort of spell being cast on him, there was a conspiracy…

A soft knock on his door sounded, and Forde walked in.

"Why'd you knock?" Franz mumbled. "We share this room."

"Courtesy, my brother. Courtesy." Forde said with a slight laugh as he walked into the room. His smile vanished abruptly as he sat down on his cot, facing his younger brother.

"Franz, what's going on with you?"

"Wha- what are you talking about?" Franz replied defensively.

Forde was silent for a couple of minutes, before another tiny chuckle. "Us males…" He laughed, shaking his head. "We always like to be lone wolves, don't we? Don't like to show weakness, always keep a brave front…" Forde paused again. "Until whatever's eating at you consumes you completely."

Franz had no response to that, and so he rolled over, facing away from his brother. True, he was stuck in a whirlpool of increasingly strange and frightening events he had not yet determined were connected to each other in any plausible way, but he had no intention of having Forde think him insane by listing all those random things out.

Silence fell upon the room once more, and Franz was just beginning to entertain the hope that Forde had indeed given up on his line of questioning and retired for the night, when he felt a pair of hands grabbing his shoulder and flipping him so he faced the ceiling with considerable force.

Forde stared down at his brother. "Whatever it is, it's bad. Amelia's already told me about how you've been acting stranger and stranger since that incident with the Mauthe Doogs two days ago. I'm not about to let that go by without an explanation, so spill. Now."

Franz merely closed his eyes. "Have you always been so brusque?" He mumbled wearily.

"Franz, stop it." Forde said. The older knight was obviously becoming exasperated with his brother's stonewalling tactics. "You weren't like this before you became a knight."

"That was then. This is now." Franz retorted. "What are you being so nosy for? I already told you – nothing's wrong with me. I don't need your help!"

Perhaps had Franz not been so anxious and worried, and preoccupied with covering the fact that he _was_ anxious and worried, he might not have behaved thus. But he was, and he did.

"Go away! Leave me alone! I don't need you to tell me what to do!"

An animalistic urge to hide himself welled up inside Franz, and gritting his teeth, he placed his palm on his brother's shoulder, and shoved hard.

He met empty air, and the momentum sent him tumbling to the floor.

As he lay there, he rubbed the shoulder he had bruised from the fall, and tried not to let dread overtake his mind.

"Forde?" He spoke, praying for a response, any response.

There was none, and gathering up what courage he could, Franz let his gaze sweep the room.

There was no one there. He was alone.

(X)

Franz set a brisk pace through the halls of the castle, head kept low, and focusing all his efforts on stemming the rising panic within him. He could almost feel his fear as an actual, debilitating effect on his body –

No. No, there _was_ something eating away at his body. He became aware of this only as it threatened to overwhelm him, and gasping for breath, he slumped against the wall.

"Franz?" He heard, dimly, Amelia's concerned voice calling for him. Raising his head, he met her worried gaze.

"You're pale as a ghost." She said softly. "What happened? Can I help?"

Franz simply hung his head again. "Forde." He rasped out. "Forde is… gone."

"Gone? Where? Why?" Amelia said, alarmed.

"I don't know." Franz mumbled. "I don't know anything anymore." Before he could say anything more, his body convulsed violently, and would have collapsed had not Amelia reached out to catch him.

"You're turning ashen." Amelia said worriedly. "What's wrong? Are you ill? Feverish?"

"No, no, it's…" Franz gulped air before speaking again. "Something's… pulling me Calling..."

His hand clutched reflexively at his chest, and he grimaced as a fresh wave of nausea surged through his stomach. "I can't… I can't hold it together, Amelia." He whispered, his voice growing softer, his speech becoming slurred. The world was no longer sharp with contrast or colours, but was beginning to meld together into a hazy, grey, formless sight.

He heard Amelia calling for him, from some great distance, but he no longer had the means to answer. His awareness dimmed, shrank into a tiny pinprick of light.

Then there was a sudden jerk, a snapping sound, and burning fire surged through his veins.

The pinprick vanished.

(X)

"How's Franz?"

Amelia massaged her forehead. "Still unconscious. Given what just happened, it's hardly surprising."

"It's not as if any of us could help it. No one expected it-"

"No, we didn't. But we _should_ have, and that's the thing." Amelia sighed. "How's the recovery team doing?"

"They're working as hard as they can, honest. We just don't see any way to pull this off safely."

"We have to." Amelia murmured fretfully. "At the end of it all, we've come too far. We can't lose what we've worked so hard for. Not like this. Not so suddenly."

"Hey, I agree with you in principle. But face facts, Amelia. The situation's getting worse rapidly, and we can't find any way to fix it. If it continues along this path, the best thing we can do is cut our losses quickly. And you have to ask yourself, which is more important. The project… or him?" He said, gesturing towards the still form of Franz.

Amelia made no reply, opting instead to focus her gaze on the steady rise and fall of the young knight's chest.

(X)

Cold.

The cold cut through the warm dark fog of Franz's mind, returning him abruptly to consciousness.

So sudden was his awakening that he jerked reflexively upon doing so, and would have tumbled over the edge of the bed had not Amelia caught him – again.

"Tha – thanks." He managed.

"You feel alright?" She asked, still clearly not convinced that he was okay.

"I…" Franz closed his eyes and nodded. "I'm fine. Thanks for your concern."

"You really need to watch yourself better, bro. Was it something you ate?"

"Forde!" In an instant Franz had managed to catapult himself from the bedside and cling as tight as he could to his brother's midsection.

To his credit, Forde did not brutally manhandle Franz, but he did insist rather loudly on Franz removing his arms from around his waist.

Franz was on the verge of asking Forde what _exactly_ had happened when he checked himself. If this was anything like the other incidents, he alone would have experienced it, and the rest of the world would have continued on its merry way without noticing in the slightest.

At least Forde appeared to have given up on questioning Franz about the strange occurrences. Franz simply didn't feel comfortable in confiding with his brother – at least not on such matters, and _especially_ not when he had been directly involved with one of the incidents.

After a while of checking to make sure his younger brother wasn't likely to collapse again for no apparent reason, Forde took his leave, and the young knight breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Amelia had been staying at the sidelines, trying not to appear too distraught and failing miserably. The moment the door closed behind Forde she was at his side again.

"Franz… please. Enough playing around. Just now you told me Forde had vanished, before you collapsed. I checked around and Forde told me he hadn't seen you the whole day. What's with you?"

"I don't know." Franz mumbled dejectedly. And that was the truth. "I don't know. These past few days I've been encountering more and more strange things – and I have no idea what's going on. I run into invisible walls, I blink and I find myself in a completely different area of the castle, I lose vision for a couple of minutes..." He paused, clutching his head. "What's _happening_ to me?"

"Franz…" Dispensing with words, she leaned over and drew him into a tight hug. He didn't resist, clinging on to her, tightly, his face buried in her shoulder.

After a long while, Amelia pulled away, and Franz could tell by the expression on her face that she was already formulating a strategy. "First things first. We'll search the castle, starting with your room. We need to find out what's doing this to you, and put a stop to it."

"I appreciate the show of support, but…" Franz let out a laugh devoid of any humour. "I'm not sure this is the sort of thing you just 'find' like this. Maybe it's just me going crazy."

"Well, we can't just do _nothing_." Amelia pointed out.

There was silence once more in the room for several minutes, before Amelia spoke again. "Franz. For now, you should rest. Tomorrow, we'll be better prepared to get to the bottom of this."

"Of course." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. Then, struck by an afterthought, he turned to Amelia. "If all else fails… I can depend on you. Right?"

"You needed to ask?" Amelia reached over and grasped Franz's hand tightly. Gazing deep into his eyes, she spoke softly. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

Franz smiled now. "Thanks, Amelia…" He paused, feeling a tightness in his throat. "Thanks."

Scarcely had Amelia left the room when he gave in to the silent tremors wracking through his body. Reflexively, he squeezed his eyes shut, curling up on the bed.

Nothingness rushed to welcome him.

(X)

"No!" Amelia slammed her fist as hard as she could onto the tabletop. "How can this- We were stable this afternoon! How could the breakdown possibly have progressed so far?"

"We don't know. We thought we could hold it, but then everything just… just fell apart."

Amelia let out a frustrated moan and buried her head in her hands. After a few more minutes, she spoke up. "How much time do we have?"

"… We have four hours until the situation becomes critical."

"…Do everything you can for the next three hours. If nothing improves…" She hesitated. "If nothing improves, terminate the connection."

"…Understood."

(X)

Thanks for reading. Please review.


	4. Chapter 3: Fragment Crossing

Proof of Existence

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Chapter 3: Fragment Crossing

(X)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

(X)

Franz blinked. Soft light filtered in from the single window located high on his wall.

It was almost mid-afternoon, he noted drowsily. Standing, he shook his head. He wasn't on duty today.

Closing his eyes, he let out a sigh. A cold trickle of fear wormed it's way into his gut – the silent, half-mocking promise of yet more irregularities thrown his way.

Closing his eyes and summoning up what resolve he could, he headed for the door.

(X)

He spotted Amelia as she rounded the corner. She was busy conversing with one of the other soldiers, and as he approached, she chuckled at something he had said.

He paused for a moment as a strange mix of emotion bubbled up within him. Resentment was strongest – why was it that he, out of everyone else in the entire castle, had to suffer these strange acts?

Doing his best to shove this aside for the time being, he headed up to his fellow knight, calling out to her. "Amelia." He said, waiting for her response.

There was none.

"Amelia?" Franz called, a bit louder this time. Perhaps she hadn't heard him…

Still no response.

A sudden spike of fear filled him. "Amelia?" He said a third time. He was right next to her now. There was simply no way she couldn't hear him.

_Please, turn to me. Smile. Say hello. Something. Anything._

She continued her conversation with the guard, oblivious.

He reached for her shoulder, only half surprised to find that his hand passed straight through, as if it were nothing more substantial than the air.

Or perhaps _she_ was the one of substance, and his own flesh was no longer solid enough to touch or to affect her.

Franz turned, hurrying into the mazelike corridors of the ancient castle, wiping angrily at the tears of anguish that ran down his face.

(X)

"Where did he go?" Amelia queried.

"He's… near the throne room. Appears to be slowing down."

"Alright, thanks. I'll go pick him up." With a sigh, she turned, jogging down the hallway.

"This place was designed too blasted huge." She said to no one in particular.

(X)

Franz slumped to the ground beside the double doors of the throne room leaning against the cool stone. He vaguely considered the ramifications of sitting down right next to the centre of power in all Renais, but his ability to give a damn was stunted by the fact that no one appeared to realize he still existed anyway.

Ducking his head, he closed his eyes, trying desperately to decide on his next course of action. Of course, since he didn't have the slightest idea what in the world was happening, deciding on _any_ course of action was a painfully frail measure.

He supposed he could simply wait it out and let whatever was affecting him disappear after a while, as it had so often in the past. Of course, that would simply leave him right back where he started.

So deep in thought was he that it wasn't until he felt a boot nudging his leg that he realized someone was standing next to him.

"Come on. We have to go."

He started, glanced up into the somber face of Amelia. The momentary relief and joy at the fact that she could see him and converse with him was quickly eclipsed by the nervous expression on her face, and the strange outfit she was wearing.

It was almost uniformly gray, made out of some strange material he couldn't immediately identify. He could see a scarlet trim along the edges of the jacket she donned, and along the cuffs of her pants.

"Amelia?" He finally managed to speak. "I don't know-"

"No, Franz." She cut him off with a pained expression on her face. "Not Amelia. Or at least, not the Amelia you knew."

(X)

Raising her communicator to her mouth, Amelia spoke again. "I've found him. Is he tagged?"

"Yes."

"Commence data transfer." She spoke up again.

"Amelia?" Franz cut in, looking increasingly agitated. "What's going on? Who are you talking to?"

"Trust me." She said shortly.

Any further forthcoming replies from him were cut off as the world around them dissolved into a blinding expanse of whiteness. Franz jerked at this, his hand drifting to the sword hilt.

Amelia closed her eyes, thinking, wondering what she could possibly say in order to break this gently to him.

(X)

Franz winced at the blinding flares of light that had seemingly exploded all around him. Only the fact that Amelia seemed calm helped prevent him from panicking, although he didn't know how much longer that could last.

In seconds, though, the light had faded, leaving him slightly disoriented in the dim room he was in. As he turned, trying to get his bearings, he couldn't shake the feeling that everything looked extremely… well, sinister.

Strange boxes from which lights flashed continuously seemingly filled the whole area, with many people hunched silently over them, pressing buttons on a grey tablet in front of them. The strange twisting feeling in his gut was rapidly worsening.

"Amelia." He turned to the one thing he could even remotely rely upon as an anchor at this point. "Tell me what's going on."

She hung her head, looking apologetic. An arm was raising, pointing to one of the particular boxes from which what appeared to be a window displayed a series of images. "Franz, look at that."

Curious, he took a couple of steps over, his eyes widening as he caught sight of what appeared to be Forde in the window, talking to Kyle. As he glanced around, he noted more windows, most of them showing a different view of Castle Renais. As he stared, one of them revealed Amelia, finishing her talk with the guard, and turning to walk away.

"What… what magic is this?" He stammered backing away from the windows. Why was Amelia simultaneously here, wherever it was, and back in the castle? Where was this place?

From behind, he heard a sigh of weariness from Amelia. "This isn't magic, Franz. Not what you mean by magic, anyway. This…" There was a hesitation in her voice, as if she really didn't want to continue. "This is reality."

(X)

As far as she could tell, that statement had absolutely no impact on Franz other than to make him even more agitated. "Reality? What are you talking about? Where are we, Amelia?"

Silently, she noticed a pair of guards making their way across the room towards the both of them. A good decision – just in case Franz turned violent.

Still, there was an unpleasant hurdle to be crossed. Maybe she could wriggle her way out of it for now. "This really isn't the time or place. Maybe-"

"Tell me, Amelia. Right now." His fear and apprehension was rapidly translating into anger, and Amelia could tell he was in no mood to be put off.

Of course, his mood wasn't likely to be improved any when she was done…

She took another deep breath. Should she lie about the circumstances that had brought him here? No, that would only serve to make the eventual discovery worse – not to mention the enormous disparity in technology between here and 'Magvel' – it would just exacerbate the problems – especially since he wasn't going back.

Trying to focus her thoughts, she made a snap decision she knew she was going to regret.

"You were created, Franz. Created here."

He stiffened visibly at her words.

"Our group here… we were under a project to design… to create a self-aware progra… a self-aware mind. From nothing. To see if it could grow, think, live."

She could see no spark of recognition in his face. Indeed, it appeared to have gone completely passive.

"To this end, we created… a spell. It's sort of like magic, except… well, it's different. When we enter this… spell into the computers…" She indicated her personal monitor, well aware he hadn't the slightest idea what a computer was. "We, uh, well, we created you."

Still nothing. Folding his arms, he gave all of his attention to her. And of course, there's no way to get yourself nervous than to have someone stare daggers at you, Amelia thought miserably.

"We wanted… we wanted to see how this mind would react – would _grow_… in a specific environment. For this, we created a world – a continent, actually. We created basic personalities using various… spells." Aware that her attempts at reducing technical jargon into medieval counterparts that Franz would be able to comprehend were failing miserably, she hurriedly pressed on. "We also fed several events into that world, such as the war."

"So you created me – that self aware mind – and created the rest of Magvel – all around me?" He sounded incredulous, and Amelia couldn't blame him.

"Well, yes. That's the gist of it."

Franz's eyes narrowed. "Put me back."

Amelia winced. She had been afraid of this. "I – we can't do that. The whole thing's been problematic – apparently the world didn't accumulate a sentient being very well. Recently it's just gotten worse and worse, until the whole thing would have collapsed had we not dragged you out." She shrugged. "In the end, we had no other choi-"

The fist slammed into her face so fast she had no time to react. All she knew had been sent sprawling onto the floor, her head hitting so hard that she saw stars. She felt the coppery taste of blood in her mouth.

After several long seconds, she managed to clear her head enough to sit up. She saw Franz standing impassively in front of her, offering no resistance to the two guards that had noticeably quickened their pace to seize him. On his clenched fist she saw a tiny smear of blood.

"Ms. Amelia?" One of them said impassively. "Are you alright."

"Fine." She grunted, waving away his concern.

"Alright. We'll bring him to a detention cell-"

"No. Bring him to a guest room. Uh, A-073." She replied as she clambered to her feet. The world swirled dizzily around her for a moment, and she reached for a nearby table to balance herself.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure." No, she had to sit down. She slumped onto her chair, gazing wearily as the two of them grabbed Franz's arms none too gently, hauling him out of the room.

As they left the room, she gingerly prodded her right cheek. It was going to form a _lovely_ bruise, of that she had no doubt.

With a sigh, she glanced at her creation – the personality and design of Amelia, so much like herself, on the computer screen.

"Well, that went well." She mumbled to no one in particular.

(X)

Franz didn't know how many corridors he'd been led through in this labyrinth of metal and bridges, and he didn't care. He kept his head down low, forcing his legs to move mechanically along with his captors.

Finally, they stopped into front of a flat grey panel. He noted one of the soldiers pressing a card to a small blinking light next to the panel. It slid open, and he knew it was a door.

"Here." One of the guards said brusquely. He stepped through, not bothering to resist. The room appeared small, about the same size as his quarters back in Castle Renais. Then again, since he ostensibly had the room to himself now, it would be less cramped.

"If you need anything, press the call button." The other one said, indicating a small red light next to the interior of the doorway. A second later the door hissed shut again.

Franz stood there silently for almost a full minute, letting the shock of what he had been told pass. Then he crumpled to the floor, and began to cry.

(X)

Thank you for reading. Please review.


	5. Chapter 4: Addled Impasse

Proof of Existence

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Chapter 4: Addled Impasse

* * *

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Biosphere.

It is a word that conjures up different meanings and emotions in different people.

Ask the older ones – those who have lived long enough to remember a time when the air was clean enough that it did not need to be pumped through giant, pressurized filters before being breathed. A time when greenery grew wild and free, not needing to be specially cultivated in carefully controlled environments.

A time when humanity did not have to live in giant sealed domes to protect them from the harsh worlds outside that they had helped create.

To them, the biosphere is a symbol of human failure. Of what they had failed to do.

To the young, however, the biosphere is a symbol of success. Of the technological triumph of humanity, rescuing it from itself in their darkest hour.

Amelia sighed as she watched the pictures flash by on her screen in an endless looping slideshow. Her parents had given her this image-reel as a present on her tenth birthday. Whenever she was bored or frustrated, the endlessly looping pictures of lush forests, craggy mountains, winding streams – pictures of a bygone era – helped soothe her and calm her down.

Now she just sat, staring listlessly at the images before her.

"Amelia."

She shifted slightly. Dylan was looking at her, a concerned expression on his face. "It's ready." He said softly.

She nodded wearily, moving over to the terminal that now glowed with a soft light. In seconds, her fingers were flying across the keyboard. She could space out later. Right now, she had to focus.

"I don't know why you were so insistent on retaining the worldframe." Dylan said as he watched her work. "Now that we've extracted the subject, there's really no reason to keep it running."

"I… we still need to run data analysis procedures on the worldframe." She said hastily. "Any information we can glean – even from a failed project – will ultimately prove beneficial."

Dylan grunted slightly. "Just make sure it's worth it." He muttered before walking off.

Once he left, Amelia left out a long breath of air, and slumped down onto her seat. While it was entirely true that extracting data from the worldframe would probably prove beneficial in the long run, she had no intention of removing support from it even when she was finished.

Her training for practicality and efficiency argued against such a decision. Generating support for what would essentially be a redundant system was a complete waste.

Still…

"Put me back." He had said. But she couldn't. The world would have collapsed in on itself if she had agreed to that – and it would have taken him along with it.

She gazed down at the digitally realized Amelia. Modeling her after herself… Was it foolish sentimentality that had caused her to create that? That she – even a programmed, created version of her – could experience a world that was healthy and lush?

She didn't know.

With a sigh, she uploaded another set of backups to stabilize the worldframe. Even if Franz could never return to it, she could let me him observe - watch over it – if he so desired.

"Somehow, I don't think he'll thank me for that." She mumbled to herself as she stood to leave.

* * *

Franz prodded the red button curiously, unsure as to how to activate it and receive the help he was beginning to need rather urgently.

Finally, after holding down on it for a couple of seconds, there was a beep and hissing noise. A bored female voice quickly replaced it. "Information. What is it?"

Franz jerked slightly and glanced around quickly. Where was the voice coming from?

After several seconds, the voice appeared again. "Hello? Is anyone there?" It sounded annoyed now – but more importantly, Franz managed to note it came from a tiny panel embedded in the wall.

Leaning over, he peered curiously into the tiny slits on the panel. Was there a person on the other end? It was too dark to really see, but…

There was a sigh on the other end, and the woman's voice mumbled. "Some idiot kid playing a prank, no doubt…" There was a 'click', and the voice vanished.

Franz frowned, waiting a bit longer. After several long seconds with nothing coming from the panel, he shrugged and pressed down on the red button once more.

"Hello. Information. Can I help you?" This time, a male's voice sounded from the flat panel.

"Huh?" Franz said reflexively. How many different people did they have behind the wall?

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't quite catch that…"

"Oh, sorry. It's was- It's just… er, nevermind." Franz stammered. _So they could hear him too…_

"Anyway, sir, you had a question?"

_How did he know I was a knight?_ Franz wondered silently. Then he cleared his throat.

"Er, well… I was wondering… How do I relieve myself?"

There was complete silence for several long, uncomfortable seconds.

"Sir, is this some kind of a joke?" Franz wasn't sure, but he thought the voice on the other end of the line was starting to sound a bit annoyed.

"No, it isn't. It's… look, I don't know how I got here, and I don't know anything about this place," Even as he spoke, Franz felt a heavy ache in his heart. "And… ugh, I'm getting desperate, okay?"

Silence for several more seconds. Then, "Would your name happen to be… uh, Franz, er, son of Frederick?"

"Yes, that would be it." Franz replied curtly. So apparently other people than 'Amelia' knew him too…

"Oh, well, that changes things." The man sounded quite a bit more cheerful now. "Alright, the instructions I'm going to give may be slightly confusing, but if you follow closely you'll do fine. Okay?"

"A-alright."

* * *

"Amelia!"

She glanced up from her terminal. "What is it, Dylan?" In the back of her mind, she noted that her colleague looked rather irritable.

"Have you seen the subject?"

"You mean Franz?" She shook her head. _I'd wish you'd stop calling him that._ She thought to herself. _It's not as if he's not sentient. He has as much self-awareness as we do._ "No, I haven't. Not since we pulled him out of the worldframe, anyway."

"Well, there's your next assignment. We need to run some tests on him – get all the data we can."

"And you want me to go find him? What, do we strap him to a metal chair and force him to answer our questions?" Amelia asked as she returned back to her monitor.

"No, see, here's the thing. We need to see how well he adjusts to living in a modern environment after being, you know, stuck in a medieval world and all."

"And he's not cooperating." Amelia finished for him. _Hardly surprising. But it's been a whole month…_

"Yes, well, management decided that you would be the best pick for drawing him out of his shell. Considering that you've the most links to his previous… well, life."

_Somehow, I don't think that's going to work in my favour._ Amelia shut her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "Any sort of deadline on this little task of theirs?"

"Well, it's a work in progress, so not exactly. But they'd like some progress by the end of the week."

Amelia let out a sigh under a breath. "Fine, I'll get on it."

As Dylan turned to leave she slumped back in her chair, staring at the screen with a disgruntled expression on her face. "I'm a _programmer_, not a social worker…" She mumbled to herself.

* * *

According to the information she had been able to obtain, Franz had not left his room once throughout the entire month he had been living in for the past month. As per usual with many others in the complex, meals were delivered to his door. And since they had done him the favour of coding the door signals to his particular specifications (retina scanners and thumbprints), she wasn't going to be able to gain access without his explicit approval.

She couldn't count on Franz being able to grasp the finer points of doorway security (such as compads), so she might not have much success in attempting to access his room at a random period of the day. Indeed, it might serve simply to irritate and alienate him, and, well, that wasn't something that was going to help her.

So she had decided on simply waiting outside the door until Franz appeared to pick up the food delivered to him by the automatons. That would probably be the best time to gain access to him.

Now that _that_ was out of the way, and she was leaning back against the wall beside his door, she was trying to deal with the negative thoughts in her head.

First and foremost was her concern over the whole issue. She was doing this on behest of the management, who were, as far as she could tell, wholly unconcerned with the physical and mental wellbeing of Franz. And as for herself, well…

She closed her eyes and blew out a long breath. "It's for a good cause," She tried to convince herself. "Even if it's ultimately because the bosses asked me to, it still benefits him to come out and experience life more."

She opened her eyes to a familiar sound of the delivery droid rounding the hallway.

"Time to get to work." She muttered to herself.

* * *

Franz heard the familiar beeping noise that indicated his food had been delivered. Shutting the book he had been reading, he stood, turned, and walked over to the door.

Over the days he had spent in this place – wherever it was – he had become slightly more versed with operating the gadgets that seemed to fill this world. Not to mention that he had discovered a closet apparently filled with clothes that fitted him rather well. Well, at least he didn't stand out from the rest of this strange place as much now.

As he walked towards the door, he pressed his palm against a pad beside it. Silently, the door rolled open.

The electronic cart extended it's arm, offering a tray to Franz. He took hold of it, nodded his thanks (the cart, as usual, did not respond), and turned to leave.

"Wait."

At the sound of that voice, so familiar, and yet so foreign in this strange new world, he felt his stomach churn slightly.

Hesitantly, he turned to look at the source of the voice. Amelia stood there, lips pursed, staring uncertainly at him.

"May I come in?" She asked.

Franz closed his eyes, trying to drain as much as emotion as he could from his voice.

"If you must." He replied.

* * *

Amelia sighed to herself as Franz vanished behind the doorway. Now that she was already here and talking to him, the experience was even more awkward than she had previously assumed.

Shaking her head, she followed Franz inside his room – to see him place the tray containing his food on a side table, and settling back onto one of the chairs and picking up a book that had been lying beside it.

_Right. The cold shoulder treatment._ Amelia sighed again – she seemed to be doing that a lot, lately – and sat down onto one of the chairs herself.

There followed a long, uncomfortable silence as Amelia wondered how and where she was to begin. Franz, by contrast, remained seemingly focused on the book he was reading.

Amelia hung her head, trying to figure out what to say. Maybe she should just pretend that nothing was wrong, and-

"I assume you had a specific purpose for showing up at the entrance to my room." Franz said tonelessly. "Please get on with it."

Scratch that idea. Maybe she should just be direct…

"Franz." She began. "You shouldn't… You shouldn't just stay in here."

"…" He tensed up, ever so slightly. Biting her lip, she hung her head. She should probably just keep pressing on.

"Look, I know you're angry and disappointed. You have every right to be. No one questions that. But… it's not going to do you any good if you just stay in here all the time. I…" She trailed off, uncertain how to continue.

"You what?" Franz replied, finally placing the book aside to look her in the eye. "You don't like seeing me like this?"

Her eyes widened. How did he-?

He stared at her with a cold expression his face for several more seconds before glancing away. "How did I know? Is that what you're thinking?" He let out a humourless laugh. "You probably don't even realize how much like her you are. The way you speak, your tiny mannerisms… When you created her… how much of yourself went in?"

Amelia cringed at his line of questioning, found herself unable to respond.

"You created me, and you made a lie and mockery out of everything I believed was true, dragging me into this world where everything is made out of metal and glass. What do you _expect_ me to do?" He shook his head, before returning to his book.

The room was silent once again. A pained expression on her face, Amelia stood, glaring at Franz.

"Franz, I _know_. I know we screwed up your life. I can't begin to imagine how terrible it must feel to have everything you believe in turn out to be a lie, a fake. If I were you, I would be devastated too. But…" She hung her head. "But if you carry on like this, you'll only destroy yourself."

"…"

"Franz… please… would you be willing to start anew? This world… it has it's own joys and pleasures to experience, too. If you would just throw all of that away… even in a decision made in the midst of your anger…" She smiled a slightly hopeful smile. "I could help you, if you want. Help you to know and understand this world better... Maybe… maybe you could come to love it for what it offers, in time."

There was a pregnant pause as her last words sank in. Amelia waited with bated breath for his response. Would he accept? Would he just become angry? Would he-

"Are you finished?" He said calmly, picking up his book.

Startled, Amelia stammered. "I- I suppose."

"Then you should leave." He said, his attention now returning to the book. "I assume you know how to exit the room of your own volition."

"A-alright." She replied. Standing, she headed for the door, head low. So she had failed, after all. And Franz would remain…

"Amelia."

She halted at the sound of his voice. "Yes?" She asked, trying to sound calm.

"I… will think about what you have told me." The was a pause, almost as if he was hesitant to say what came next. "… Thank you."

"You… you're welcome." She stammered, before heading out the door. As it closed silently behind her, a tiny smile appeared on her face.

* * *

Thank you for reading. Please review. 


	6. Chapter 5: Empty Melodies

Proof of Existence

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Chapter 5: Empty Melodies

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I can't believe I got absolutely zero reviews for the last chapter. Oh, well. An artist must suffer for his work! Or… something like that.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

At the touch of his hand, the doorway to his wardrobe slid open silently. Franz paused as he glanced inside, staring at the rows of clothes. Most of them were green – his favourite colour – and while he was pleasantly surprised that they had thoughtful enough to provide for him as such, he still felt unease that they knew details of himself – without him having ever told them.

_Get over it._ He told himself as he lifted a shirt out from the rack, donning it.

After a moment's consideration, he pulled out a light jacket as well. He wasn't too sure, but it _seemed_ like the weather would be rather cold.

As he walked towards the exit of his room, he caught sight of himself on a wall-mounted mirror. He sighed softly and stepped closer, observing himself. His hair was the usual mess it always way – although it _had_ been some time since he'd had it sheared. Best to remedy that soon, he supposed.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Franz stepped over, pressing his thumb against the pad.

As the door rolled open, he saw Amelia standing there, tugging nervously at the sleeve of her jacket. As she caught sight of him, she managed a smile, although the hesitation on her face was readily apparent. Franz supposed it was only natural, considering the circumstances…

* * *

"_Franz?" A voice floated through the speaker._

"_Amelia?" Franz questioned as he turned to face the intercom. After the assistant had explained to him to basics of working that particular device, he had opted to set it to a neutral mode where anyone could contact him if he so wished. Amelia had apparently gotten wind of this…_

"_Uh huh." There was a slight note of hesitation in her voice. "Could you… uh, I'm outside your room right now, so I was wondering if I could come in."_

"_Sure." Walking over, he thumbed the pad, and the door slid open silently. Amelia was standing there, arms clasped at the small of the back. Contrary to what she had asked, she didn't walk in, instead standing in the doorway and gazing down at her feet._

"_I just wanted to tell you that, well, there's, uh, a fair of sorts this weekend. It's, uh, well… rather well known, and I was wondering if… if you'd like to go. With me." She finished with an obvious note of apprehension._

_Franz was silent for a long time, staring impassively at her. As he did so, she of course began to get more self-conscious, subconsciously twirling several strands of hair around her finger. "Uh, well, if… if you don't feel like going, that's perfectly fine too. I mean – I don't want to put pressure on you or anything…"_

_She was biting her lip now. She always did so whenever she felt troubled. Franz closed his eyes, trying not to let the impassive mask that was his face slip. Why did he have to face constant reminders of the life he'd been forced to leave behind?_

_Realizing that every second he spent standing there doing nothing increased her discomfort, he nodded and managed a tired smile. "That does sound nice." He said softly._

"_Huh – er, you – you mean you'll come?" She asked, looking up at him with some surprise. On a certain level, this was rather telling of her view of him, he supposed. Did he really appear so… introverted that she didn't expect him to say yes? Then again, he had been spending all of his time within the confines of his room…_

"_Yes, I'll come. I probably should get out of the room anyway." He didn't miss the relieved looking smile that spread across Amelia's face, although he suspected she herself wasn't aware of it._

"_Great! So, uh, I'll come pick you up around… say, six? Six thirty?"_

"_Six will be fine."_

"_O – okay. See you around… I guess."_

"_See you."_

* * *

"Well!" She said brightly, returning him to the present. "Shall we be going?"

There was a slight moment of hesitation, and then Franz nodded slowly. "Alright."

* * *

"The whole area seems… deserted." Franz commented as he and Amelia continued their journey across the walkway.

Amelia nodded. "This sector isn't very popular – most of the people living here and employees of the big corporations nearby." She chuckled lightly. "They've less incentive to go out and do things that way."

"And yet here you are, leading me to some sort of festival."

"Yes, well…" He noted idly that she didn't deal very well with being challenged, and he wondered if this was how she normally was, or if this was unique to her interactions with him. Then he shook his head, returning focus back to what she was telling him.

"It's… I'm just different from most of the people, I guess." Amelia let out a tiny sigh. "Aptitude tests when I was young showed me I had immense ability for dealing with technical things – I'm apparently one of the youngest in the business as is. Still…" She absentmindedly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Sometimes I feel… I'd give all of this away in an instant if I could."

Unseen by her, Franz frowned slightly. Why would anyone want to give away such skills in… well, whatever it was? He supposed it had something to do with those 'computers' all over the place, but… He shook his head, deciding not to press the manner any further.

Eventually, the two of them reached what appeared to be a circular hatchway. Amelia withdrew a card from her pocket, moving to insert it into some sort of slot by the hatchway. It slid open, revealing a small, seemingly empty room. Amelia stepped inside and motioned for Franz to do likewise, which he did, albeit with a questioning look on his face.

Once they were both in, Amelia turned to Franz.

"I, uh, I don't know how I should say this. What's going to happen may be a little shocking if you're not really used to this sort of thing. I guess what I'm trying to tell you is…" She shrugged and indicated a railing by her side. "Hang on."

Before he could get around to asking her what she meant, there was a sudden lurching sensation, and Franz felt his stomach migrate to approximately the same level as his feet. Fighting desperately not to throw up, he managed to hunker down into a sort of half-kneeling position, struggling to draw in breath.

Amelia, by contrast, had grabbed on to the bar, and was keeping her balance with little apparent difficulty. She shot a worried look at Franz, but the velocity at which they were traveling made it difficult for her to approach and aid him.

Finally, the blasted contraption lurched to a stop, and Franz collapsed into a sitting position on the metal floor, feeling waves of queasiness and nausea roil through him.

"What on earth was that?" He finally rasped out weakly.

Amelia hurried over, crouching down next to him and rubbing his back soothingly. "Sorry! I'm so sorry! I mean – I knew you wouldn't be used to the magna-lift, but I didn't expect you to be affected like this –"

Franz closed his eyes, waiting for the world to stop tossing around him. "Uggghh…" He mumbled weakly.

"Can – can you stand?"

In response, Franz reached up, fumbling weakly with the handlebar, slowly pulling himself back to his feet. _Deep breaths. Keep taking deep breaths and you'll do fine._

After several long seconds, he finally felt well enough to look at Amelia, give a slightly pained smile, and nod.

"I'm, uh, I'm really sorry about that." She began to apologize again. Franz waved her off.

"No, don't worry. I'll be…" He shook his head, trying to clear some of the flashing lights from his vision. Damned blood rush… "I'll be fine."

* * *

From here on out it was a walk of less than a minute to their destination, and Amelia kept herself close to him, trying to ensure he didn't suffer another dizzy spell.

_Everything here is so new, so… alien to him._ Amelia sighed. _I wish I could make all this up to him._ Even though Franz had consented to going on this little excursion with her, she still couldn't seem to break through the shell he had built up around himself. The little times he did show emotion seemed to be, more often than not, a negative one such depression or, more recently, dizziness and nausea.

Even now, he gazed around the passageway with a curiously blank expression on his face. Every time she caught sight of him doing as much, she always felt uneasy. Like there was something she should do or say, and it would magically make things so much better than it was right now. But of course no such thing existed, or at the least she hadn't the faintest either what it was.

Well, if she could do nothing else, she could help introduce him to the world at large – of all the sights, sounds, the little thrills she had long since taken for granted but he would be experiencing for the first time ever.

Thinking about that cheered her up slightly, and she smiled as she caught sight ofthe familiar green glow of the exit sign.

"We're here, Franz. The surface."

* * *

As Franz emerged from the catacomb of metal, he gazed up at the inky blackness around him. Stars dotted the landscape, twinkling briefly in the darkness.

"It's been a long time since I saw the sky." He said to himself. The ancient night held forth with its usual splendour, blanketing the tired world in a cloak of rest. It was good to know that some things, at least, were familiar, even in this alien-

He frowned as he spotted an odd shimmer across that night sky. It seemed to… glow a faint sapphire as it rippled across the heavens, finally vanishing into darkness. A second later, he spotted another one of the strange waves.

"Amelia, what's that?" He asked as he pointed at the strange object.

"Hm?" She glanced upwards as well. "Oh, the scout wave? It's an electromagnetic signal designed to travel along the surface of the biosphere while detecting and deflecting any particle emissions produced by the massive quantities of thermonuclear energy we-" She paused and looked at Franz. "You didn't understand any of that, did you?"

"Uh, well, I understood 'scout'." Franz replied.

"Right, um, well, it's kinda like what you understand scouts as. See, they search out things that could potentially rupture the biosphere, and knock them away, or give an advance warning in case they're not strong enough by themselves."

"Well, you made it a lot clearer, but I still don't understand what a 'biosphere' is."

"Oh, that." He detected the slightly melancholy tone Amelia took in her voice. She sighed softly. "Well, it's like this… We haven't been doing very well by our world recently – we cut down a lot of trees, we dirtied the rivers, the air was fouled… All at once, we suddenly woke up and realized just how much damage we had been doing to our land. But at that point it was nearly too late. Living conditions were becoming worse and worse." She took a few steps forward, her hand reaching out to brush a nearby leaf. The vast cities we were living in, we began to take steps – doing what we could. We filtered the polluted air so it could be breathed, we replanted many species of plants in carefully controlled environments. The more we worked, the more we realized… the world was fast becoming uninhabitable – if we didn't do something, we'd… well, at the very least, life would become a lot more unpleasant." She scratched her head sheepishly. "In a single generation, we'd built the biosphere – protection from the harshness of the outside world. This technology was quickly spread around the world, and now every city lies within one – or more accurately, _is_ one. The dome up there… it's made of specially reinforced material – airtight. From within, we live, safe from a world that has been poisoned." Amelia's voice trailed off near the end, a slight hint of wistfulness evident in the words.

"I never had a chance to see the world in its beauty. When I was born, the biosphere had almost finished construction. I've seen pictures, movies… but it's not the same, I guess."

Franz silently gazed up at the night sky. So even here, in the sky that looked so ordinary, so… _natural_, he could not truly escape the boundaries of the world he was in. He breathed out deeply.

"Well, now you know." Amelia turned to a him, a lopsided smile on her face. "What say we hurry to the fair? I'm getting a bit hungry and I have a pretty good recommendation for a particular vendor."

Franz nodded. "Sounds good."

* * *

The bright lights heralded their approach to the fair long before they had reached the entrance of the gaily decorated area.

From the sideways glances she kept giving Franz, he appeared to be rather interested in the proceedings of the whole affair. Clearing her throat, she continued her role as tour guide, wondering silently if he was really paying her much attention.

"So, the basic idea is that a company comes and sets up a large bunch of attractions – food stalls, games, fun rides, that sort of thing – then we enter and wander around, free to try them out – for a small fee, of course. Nothing's free around here, really."

"Is that a castle?"

Amelia glanced over in the direction Franz was pointing and suppressed an urge to giggle.

"Well, in a sense, yeah. It's called the Bouncy Castle. Basically you pump a rubber skin full of air, so it's really bouncy if you jump on it or fall on it. I think you spend, oh, fifty cents to get three minutes on that thing."

Franz nodded thoughtfully for a moment. "Could I try it out?"

This time, Amelia _did_ fail in suppressing her laughter. When she calmed down somewhat, she shook her head. "Franz, it's… it's really meant more for young kids. Like, five years and below."

"Oh." Disappointment flashed across his face briefly.

"Besides," Amelia continued, glancing down at her chronometer on her wrist. "I'm pretty sure you're hungry. Records state you usually have your dinner a bit earlier than this."

"Well… yeah. I guess."

"Right, like I was telling you…" Gently, Amelia took his shoulder, directing him to a nearby store. "One of my colleagues came here last night, she told me this guy sells absolutely _superb_ hotdogs."

"Hot… dogs?" All too late, she noticed the look of alarm – not a mention a tiny bit of revulsion – flit across his face.

"Uh, no, it's not – there's no dog meat in it. Really. We just call it that because… I don't know why we call it that. But trust me on this. It's all chicken or beef."

"…If you say so." Franz still looked rather doubtful, and she couldn't say she faulted him for that all too much.

Joining the rather short queue, Amelia glanced over at the board detailing the stand's wares and the prices. Pulling out her wallet, she began counting out the requisite cash.

"Why are you pulling out paper?"

"Huh? Oh – it's – it's a lot more convenient to use paper than metal coins for our currency, especially when you carry a lot of it with you."

"But… but paper isn't worth very much."

"Well, not until everybody agrees that it does, anyway." Amelia chuckled as she held a note to the moonlight. The watermark gleamed faintly on it. "If the whole world says that something has value, then it has value. What use is gold on its own?"

"That's-" Franz began, before falling silent.

Then they were at the head of the queue, and the vendor looked the both of them over. "What'll it be?"

"Two jumbo-sized 'dogs, please. The works."

"Any sodas?"

"Uh, no. Two ice waters, please."

As the food was handed out, Amelia paid the vendor and indicated for Franz to grab one of the hotdogs for himself. "I hope you don't mind the no-soda thing." She said. "It's just – I always think it's much too sweet for my tastes."

"It's fine." He assured her. "I don't even know what a 'soda' is, anyway."

* * *

He glanced down at the meal before him. Amelia had ordered 'the works', and apparently 'the works' involving slathering the meat portion of the, uh… dog with lots of sauces and what appeared to be tiny translucent cubes of vegetables.

It wasn't that he _doubted_ Amelia or anything, but as he glanced up and saw her chewing away happily at the food, he wondered if someone was having him on.

Still, he had to admit that back in Renais, a fair amount of great food probably wouldn't have looked very nice to someone seeing it the first time, and so, buoyed by the fact that it probably wasn't poisonous, he took a big bite out of the hotdog.

Several minutes later, Amelia was back in the queue, buying him seconds.

* * *

"Okay, the point here is to throw this ball, and try to knock down the bottles stacked up at the far end. You get three of those balls, and depending on the amount of bottles you knock down, you get a prize."

"Wouldn't most people simply aim at the base in order to knock down the rest of the bottles?" Franz inquired as he passed the person running the booth a dollar.

"Well, yes. That's why they usually put weights at the bottom to make them heavier. Theoretically you _could_ knock them down, but it's usually best to not-"

WHAM!

That sound was swiftly followed by several loud crashes as two-thirds of the entire pyramid of bottles crumbled. Franz grabbed the remaining two balls in either hand, and without any windup, tossed them at the bottles remaining, bringing them down swiftly.

"…A 'wow' seems appropriate." Amelia managed. "Wow."

Franz shrugged. "Training with javelins. You had to be able to throw hard enough to penetrate steel-plate armour at twenty paces or less."

Amelia nodded. "Well, that proved useful."

"Alright, sonny!" The garishly dressed booth vendor stepped up. "You've won yerself a grand prize, yes you did! So what do you want, sonnyboy? Take yer pick!" He indicated a row of prizes.

Instead of choosing, Franz leaned towards Amelia. "The 'grand prizes' are a bunch of stuffed toys?"

"Well, this _is_ a fair. What, were you expecting armour or weaponry or something?" Amelia grinned. "The pink monkey over there looks cute."

"Right. The pink monkey it is." Franz called.

"Huh?" Amelia barely registered as the monkey was handed over to Franz, who promptly turned around and presented it to Amelia. "I…"

"You said it was cute, right?" Franz nodded. "Go on, take it's. It's a gift."

Hesitantly, she reached out, taking it from him. The monkey was soft, it's arms flopped over as she raised it to eye level, looking at it closely. "Thanks." She said softly. "I'll take good care of it."

"Mm. Hey, what's that over there?" And Franz was setting off again, eager to explore more.

Amelia beheld the monkey for a second, squeezing it slightly in one hand. Then, a smile on her face, she hurried to join him.

* * *

"It's called cotton candy. It's basically just coloured sugar." Amelia shrugged. "I'm not a big fan of it, but if you want I'll buy you a roll."

The bundle of pink cloudlike candy was handed to Franz who looked it up and down. "Can't say I've ever seen anything like this before."

"You've probably never tasted anything like it before either. Go on, give it a bite."

Dubiously, Franz bit down onto the pink cloud. The strands gave way easily under the force of his teeth, and a wad of the candy came away.

"Oh!" He said, wide-eyed. "Oh!"

"Sweet, huh." Amelia grinned.

"Sweet doesn't begin to describe it." Franz said as he stared at the stick he was holding. "I can't imagine eating this stuff on a regular basis."

"Oh, they don't." Amelia chuckled lightly. "We've turned eating into an artform of sorts. You can spend the rest of your life never eating at the same restaurant or food vendor twice, and at the end of it you'll probably not have experienced everything the world has got to offer. When I made your world, I tried to simulate the conditions a soldier would experience – a lot of tough meat and watery stews." Then her eyes widened as she realized what she had done.

Franz swallowed hard at the fresh reminder that the world he had come from was nothing more than a fake, trying to put a handle on his emotions. There was a long tense moment when nothing passed in between the both of them. Finally, Franz spoke up again.

"Well, one less reason for me to worry about going back, I suppose."

Even if the joke was a forced one, Amelia seemed to take it as a sign she could relax now. As she strolled on besides him, Franz shut his eyes, trying to quell the turbulent storms in his heart.

* * *

"Well, I hope you had fun tonight."

It was now late. Amelia and Franz had returned to the subterranean hallways that housed their living areas. Right now Amelia leaned against the doorway of Franz's room, arms folded as she gazed in at him.

"Yeah, I did." Franz glanced up, a smile on his face. "Thanks for inviting me out, Amelia."

"Hey, you smiled. That's good." Amelia grinned. Franz raised an eyebrow.

"What? I've smiled at you quite a few times before now."

"Well, yes, but…" She paused, trying to find the right words to use.

"But?"

"But… this is the first time… that it hadn't seemed forced."

At this Franz's expression grew hooded, almost brooding. But his body language radiated a calmness that let Amelia knew that he was much more relaxed now – much closer to coming to grips with the reality of his existence.

She stepped out into the hallway, before turning back to face him. "Good night, Franz, and thanks for the monkey."

He nodded. "Good night, Amelia."

The door slid shut silently behind her.

* * *

Thanks for reading. Please review.

(Seriously, no reviews for the last chapter?)


	7. Chapter 6: Twilight's View

Proof of Existence

* * *

Chapter 6: Twilight's View

* * *

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Amelia sat hunched over the softly glowing screen, eyes narrowed in concentration. Her fingers flew furiously over the keyboard, and as she worked, streams of data coalesced into recognizable programs and functions. Most felt uneasy and uncomfortable upon dealing with such vast quantities of raw data – not her. She felt _alive_, in her element, doing what she did and knew best, stringing together pieces of seemingly unrelated commands to create an entirely new one, fixing a single digit to make a completely unresponsive function come alive, and adding its own coded response to the great dance of the network. More lines of code flew at her, and she tackled them with ease – the new tactile grid was falling into place. 

"Amelia?"

She turned at the voice. "Dylan?"

"How's the latest project?"

"Coming along nicely. A few kinks, but nothing unexpected." Amelia blew a breath of air out of her mouth. "We should be ready for the deadline unless something unexpected crops up."

"That's good." Her coworker roved over her desk, his eyes finally lighting on the stuffed monkey Franz had given her. "And what's that?"

Amelia glanced up. "Oh, you mean Squeaks?"

"…Squeaks?"

"Yeah, because he makes a squeak when you squeeze him!" Amelia giggled as she reached over and grasped the stuffed toy tightly. True to form, it let out a cutely molded whine.

Dylan raised an eyebrow. "You're how old, again?"

Amelia rolled her eyes. "So I like cute things. Besides, it was a gift from Franz."

She returned to her work, but not before she caught a darkening of expression on Dylan's face.

"Amelia, that…" He paused, shook his head. "Since when were you on a first-name basis with him?"

"Oh, I dunno. Ever since we met?" Amelia rolled her eyes even as she continued working. "What's the big deal?"

Dylan folded his arms. "The _big deal_, Amelia, is that you shouldn't be getting too close to him. At the end of the day, he's nothing more than a-"

"Put a sock in it." Amelia retorted. "Or have you forgotten that I was supposed to try to bring him out of his shell?"

Dylan chuckled. "Forgive me if I'm being skeptical about you keeping that relationship strictly professional. 'Squeaks' seems to be occupying a position of prominence on your desk, you know."

Amelia slammed the 'enter' button on her keyboard, and swung around in her chair to face him. "Enough!" She snapped. "If I, of my own accord, choose to draw closer and to become friends with Franz, what business is it of yours? Yes, his _gift_ to me is placed on my desk because I cherish it. So? He's behaved with more grace towards me than most of you people ever have; and you dare tell me who I can and cannot have as a friend?" Her brief tirade complete, Amelia slumped back into her chair, one hand covering her face.

Silent, Dylan turned and strode towards the exit of her room.

* * *

As the door to Amelia's working area swung open, Franz's eyes widened and took a half step back. The man filling the doorway glared back at him coldly before turning and stalking down the corridor. 

Franz stepped into the room, wondering why that person had been so unhappy.

"Amelia?"

She was sitting, head slumped forward, eyes half closed in deep thought. As he called her name, she glanced up and a smile blossomed. The same smile she'd always had.

Franz smiled in return, before remembering the man. "Who was that guy?" He asked, gesturing to the doorway.

"Oh? Nothing, just…" He detected a flash of sadness across her face. "Just a colleague."

"Ah." Franz nodded, ran a hand through his hair. Amelia glanced up at him quizzically.

"Did you just come out of your room on your own? Is this the first time?"

Franz had to chuckle. "Yes, I suppose it is. I came to find you."

Amelia's eyes widened. "T – thanks, I guess, but why?"

Franz shrugged. "Well, I really didn't have much else to do." He rubbed the back of his head. "And, well, since I'm probably going to spend the rest of my life in your… in this world, I was thinking that maybe you could show me a way to…" He shrugged again. "Make myself useful."

Amelia felt the beginnings of a grin tug at her mouth. "Well," she chuckled. "I'm not too knowledgeable about a wide range of things… In fact, the only thing I understand well enough to teach would probably be computing."

Franz nodded, processing that information. "So teach me computing." He replied.

Amelia smiled uncertainly, glanced back at her monitor, and then turned back to Franz with a nod. "All right. I'm busy right now, so I'll come over tonight, okay?"

He smiled. "That'd be great, Amelia. Thank you."

* * *

Nigh on eight o'clock, Franz noted as he placed the empty tray of food in the appropriate disposal slot. He watched as it vanished into who-knows-where, and turned away. Everything around this world seemed to be centred around efficiency, and while it wasn't a bad thing in and of itself, everything also seemed… colder. 

He heard the calling tone indicating someone was at his door, and he walked over, opening it. In the doorway stood Amelia, one hand clutching a pile of equipment he didn't recognize.

She smiled. "Hi."

He inclined his head slightly. "Hello."

* * *

"Okay, I brought over my laptop since lugging over the entire PC from the workstation probably wouldn't have been a good idea." On that note, she leaned over to insert the plug into the power socket. 

"Right." She opened up the notebook. "First things first. That over there is the power button. And of course you'll probably end up working with lots of different model computers if you keep at this, but remember that this symbol is universal – it always indicates that you press it if you want to turn it on."

Franz nodded.

"Right. Why don't you press it, and then we can get started proper."

Hesitantly, Franz reached over and pressed down on the button.

"…Nothing's happening."

"Yeah, it always takes a few seconds. Just be patient."

In a few seconds, the screen flickered to life, displaying the logo of the company that had designed this particular line of computers – hers. She smiled to herself, feeling a slight rush of pride.

"You're probably not going to need to get into the heavy-duty programming stuff I deal with – I'm _special_, after all." She said with a roll of her eyes. "For now, let's get you up to speed on some of the applications. We'll start with…" Her eyes roamed the cross-bar menu. "This one."

"And what's it used for?"

"Oh, lots of things, depending on who you are." Amelia shrugged. "You can use it to write stories, compose long essays on whatever topic you want; but for the common office grunt, it's used for the bane of our existences – paperwork."

"Paperwork."

"Reports on our current status, memos over nonsensical issues, that sort of thing." Amelia waved her hand dismissively. "If you do work at a computer, you'll learn to put up with this sooner or later – or you end up at the asylum. Stupid idiots who don't understand the least bit about programming demanding daily status reports…" Then she noticed Franz staring at her with a curious expression on his face.

She coughed. "Sorry, lost myself for a sec. Anyway, let's get on with the lesson."

* * *

Amelia found Franz to be a fast and willing learner, quickly picking up the key requirements – even though she _did_ have to go over a few of the functions more than once. 

About halfway through the session, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and noticed a melancholy smile on his face.

"Hey," she started in a friendly tone. "Why the smile?"

Franz started and glanced over to her. "Huh? Oh, nothing. I was… I was just thinking about back in – back in Castle Renais." He folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Back there, I helped Amelia as she was learning to read." Franz closed his eyes. "It just feels strange now that I'm receiving lessons from you."

Amelia was silent for a long while. Then she spoke again, softly. "You miss her, don't you."

Eyes still closed, Franz shook his head. "It's – it's not just her. Everyone back there – Forde, Lord Ephraim, General Seth…" He turned away from her. "Forget it. There's no use talking about it."

After a moment of hesitation, Amelia reached over to pull the notebook shut. She lay a hand on his shoulder, swallowing slightly as she pondered the repercussions of what she was about to do.

"There…" Franz turned to her, curiosity in his eyes, and she nodded slightly. "There is a way." She said softly.

* * *

The hallways of the complex were silent – most of the technicians working the graveyard shift generally didn't venture this deep into the building. Behind her, Franz kept a steady pace, his eyes gazing every which way, trying to understand and discern the value and use of all this machinery. 

Silently, she spoke to herself, convincing herself that nothing was wrong. After all, she was merely letting him observe – he wasn't going to be able to _do_ anything.

Finally, she arrived at her destination. She slid her keycard through the scanner, punched in the correct 9 digit code, and waited patiently as the door slid open.

And then they were in. She pointed to one of the chairs in the room, indicating that Franz should sit, which he did. Settling herself at the monitor, she sighed once, and set to work.

Her fingers flying over the keyboard, she silently removed the layers of encryption she had carefully placed around the worldframe. No one should have been able to discover it still existed, and apparently no one had.

Franz eyed Amelia, her face lit by the soft glow of the screen, with obvious unease, wondering what she was doing. Even as she continued her work, she couldn't help but smile slightly at the surprise he was about to be given.

There, complete. Amelia turned to a Franz, a grin tugging at the edge of her lips. "Are you ready?" She asked. Without waiting for an answer, she turned and hit the 'enter' key.

Franz leapt to his feet, startled, as the darkened room seemingly vanished, being replaced instead by a sun-drenched courtyard. Instinctively, he raised a hand to shield himself from the blinding sunlight – and he heard a familiar voice.

"Getting better! But your parry's still-" The sound of clashing weapons.

"A _little_-" A thud, and then a whuf of air being knocked out of someone's lung.

"STIFF!" The sound of someone collapsing – and Franz's eyes finally adjusted enough for him to gaze over at the source of the noise. What he saw made his mouth drop.

"General Seth!" For the Silver Knight it was, smiling, maroon hair blowing in the summer breeze as he extended a helping hand to –

"Amelia!" The young recruit was rubbing a sore leg as she pulled herself to her feet.

"Right here." He heard a chuckle and whirled to find Amelia standing next to him, eyes sparkling.

Of course. This was the real one. The one currently brushing dirt off her clothes was the copy – the fake. Swallowing the sudden surge of disappointment, he turned back to Amelia. "This is…?" He asked, prompting an explanation.

Amelia nodded. "This is… this is the world that we had to pull you out of. I'm pretty sure you recognize that." Franz nodded. This part he understood. Amelia gave him a second of reflection before continuing. "Only a bit different. We're not actually _in_ the world – we're more like… observers. We can't affect anything, and they can't do anything to us. They aren't even aware we exist." As if to prove her point, Amelia passed her hand through a nearby bench easily.

She blew breath out through her lungs. "One more thing. When we removed you from the world, we… we essentially made it so that you never existed." She noted the stiffening in his posture and shook her head slightly. Still, it was best he knew the truth. "Everything you see around you… it's the exact same world, only you never participated in it in any way."

Franz closed his eyes for several seconds, took in a deep breath, and nodded. When he opened them again, his sea-green orbs scanned the landscape, a melancholy smile on his face. "Everything's at peace… I guess they didn't need me to save the world after all." He chuckled weakly at his own joke, then let his gaze return to where the General and Amelia were still sparring.

The real Amelia came up beside him, watching as well for several minutes. Finally, she lay a hand on his arm. "Right now it'd still be kinda complicated for you to go to different parts of the world – or to hunt down individual people, but if you'll give me a couple of days, I could whip up something to simplify the process."

"Thanks – thank you." Franz could barely tear his eyes from the ongoing duel. So, somehow, they had convinced Amelia to join Renais after all – without his aid. He smiled, glad at heart that she had still survived the conflict.

Amelia nodded in deference, took a couple of steps back. "Anytime you want to go back to the real world –" Another slip of the tongue, another cold snakebite at Franz's heart. She winced and pushed on. "Just call for me, okay?" Then she pressed a button on the remote she was currently holding, and vanished.

Certain that she could no longer see him, Franz no longer saw any need to hold back the tears. His body shook with anguished sobs and he bent his head, one arm reaching up to cover his eyes.

And meanwhile, in the darkened room, a silent Amelia sighed softly and turned away as she heard the soft weeping of her friend behind her.

* * *

Thank you for reading. Please review. 


	8. Chapter 7: The Altar of Naught

Proof of Existence

* * *

Chapter 8: The Altar of Naught

* * *

Disclaimer: I own nothing

* * *

In the day, he seemed normal enough.

As Amelia taught him about computers, carefully explaining the nuances of programming, he would nod attentively, listening and then practicing whatever it was that Amelia taught him. Though of course he was nowhere close to picking up even half of what he needed to know to be on the same level as her (understandable, since he hadn't had the benefit of a childhood being educated in the stuff she had been), he was able to contribute to the more mundane tasks that required more manpower than actual processing skills. Thus far the higher ups hadn't complained, and from what she could tell, they seemed happy that there was someone willing to contribute to the company.

She giggled as she recalled presenting Franz with his paycheck for the first time. He had obviously been surprised by this, firstly because paychecks weren't something common in the time period he was still the most used to, and secondly because he hadn't even been aware that he had somehow ended up on the company payroll.

The nights, however… It still bothered her.

Was Franz had finished whatever duties he had been assigned for the day and eaten his dinner, he would vanish. As always, if Amelia ever sought him, she knew where he would be. After all, she had been the one to provide him the necessary equipment he needed to access the room.

She would enter the chamber, watching silently as Franz gazed at the world she had helped create. True to her word, she had designed a small remote that allowed him to traverse the virtual continent of Magvel more efficiently. Simply inputting a location or a particular character's name would instantly realign Franz's placement to the holographic realm such that he was in close proximity to the stated location.

Amelia had checked the records before, and unsurprisingly enough, 'Amelia' had turned up as the one 'location' visited the most. At times when she visited the room at the same time as him, she would view the proceedings as well, albeit through the computer monitor, watching the area around where Franz was.

He did this almost every night; the only times when the virtual worldframe room was left empty was when there was an urgent project that needed all-nighters from the majority of staff to finish on time. Even then, Amelia would notice him becoming distracted, staring into the air, as if he were reminiscing about some hidden event known only to himself.

Pausing momentarily from her work, she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She knew this behaviour was self-destructive – and she wasn't going to stand by and idly watch Franz continue down this road.

The only question, she mused, was how to get him out of his funk.

_Think, Amelia, think. You managed to draw him out of his shell a little already, it shouldn't be too difficult to do it again._

* * *

Franz walked silently through the darkened hallways. The light wasn't so bad that he was utterly blind, but he knew the route well enough regardless.

A few minutes of walking led him into the living-quarters area, which were brightly lit. He smiled in slight relief, and continued his journey back to his own room.

As he rounded the corner and the door to his room came into view, he frowned, puzzled. Amelia was leaning against the wall, checking her chronometer. As he neared, she glanced up, and a warm smile spread across her face.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" He said softly as he walked up to his room door, sliding his keycard through the scanner.

"Could say the same to you." She replied wryly.

"Well, I _am_ heading to bed shortly."

"Franz…" Something in her tone of voice made him stop and turn back to look at her. After chewing nervously at her lip for a moment, she sighed and spoke up. "Could I come into your room for a while? I have something to discuss with you."

He nodded. "Sure. Come on in."

* * *

"Have a seat." Franz spoke, indicating one of the chairs as he did so.

Amelia accepted the offer gratefully – she'd been standing outside waiting for a while, after all. Meanwhile, Franz shed his jacket, dropping it onto the bed. Slumping down onto one of the plush seats himself, he offered a friendly smile to Amelia.

"So… what's up?"

She hesitated a while before speaking up. She had never done well in a confrontational setting, and this didn't seem to be going any differently. "Franz… you're… I think that, well… You're spending too much time in… in Magvel."

His face had quickly become an impassive mask. Not a good sign, Amelia thought. Swallowing hard, she continued. "I know it's hard for you… and I can understand what it must be like to be trapped away from everything you knew and loved, but-"

"I seem to remember having heard this spiel before." Franz commented dryly. He stood, turning away and walking towards the wall. He tapped a tiny panel at the side of it and the opaque gray melted away to reveal a large transparent panel – a window that gazed out at the underground night. Gazing upwards revealed the first hints of night sky past the labyrinthine structures of metal. A look downwards revealed a cityscape still seething with energy of a hundred thousand restless citizens.

Silently, Amelia stood, walking up to his side so she could see what he saw. As she gazed at the thousand lights that still blazed and twinkled around her, she couldn't help but feel a surge of pride and accomplishment; to her, it was truly a beautiful sight.

Then she winced. As comforting a sight as this was to her – how did Franz feel about all this? She'd _assumed_ he had been fitting in well with the new world around him, but now… now that she thought about it, he'd actually seemed to survive by cutting down interaction with the world around him to a bare minimum, working at his assigned tasks and retreating back to a land he was more familiar with.

She sighed, folded her arms, and spoke again. "Franz… do you consider me a friend?"

He frowned, glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Of course – of course I do." He said, slightly defensively.

She nodded. "Then, as your friend, let me tell you that what you're doing now is bad for you." She ran a hand through her hair. "You're shutting yourself down into a shell, and refusing to come to grips – _really_ come to grips - with your life here."

Franz shut his eyes, turning away again. Amelia stood silent for a few more seconds. When she couldn't bear it any longer, she spoke up again. "Franz?"

She could see his shoulder slump. "It's not…" He began. "It's difficult to…" He folded his arms. "I know… I know that what you're saying is true, Amelia. I know that." He swallowed. "But… I don't…" He was silent once more.

"… This world may seem strange and unfamiliar to you, Franz. But it has its gifts to offer you." She paused. "But all those gifts… you're just sacrificing them Franz. On an altar to nothing. It can't continue like this."

Silence descended upon the room. Stepping forward, she lay a comforting hand on his shoulder, and was encouraged when he didn't try to shrug her off. "Franz… just one night. Let's start slow. I could – I mean, if you want, I could bring you out on a tour of the underground. There's lot of things I'm sure you'd find interesting…" She trailed, uncertain as to how to continue.

Franz turned slightly to face her, and she could see the streaks of tears on his face. He breathed deeply, nodded once, and tried to smile.

"Tomorrow night, then?"

She nodded in return. "Tomorrow it is."

Franz reached up, wiping away the streaks with his sleeve. "Goodnight, Amelia."

She smiled at him before she turned to leave. "Goodnight, Franz."

* * *

He opened his eyes, shifting the position of his head slightly.

With a slight yawn, Franz climbed out of his bed. It was still dark, of course. He'd been raised in a life of discipline, after all, and even in this new world it behooved him to keep as closely to his morning regimen as he could.

As he put his body through the standard stretching exercises, he allowed his mind to wander freely… back to the events of the previous night.

"Amelia…" He whispered to himself. "General Seth… Brother…"

_Whenever I 'visited' them… I did so always aware that, one day, I'd have to stop coming back. But… somehow… once the time arrives… I don't feel ready. At all._

Straightening back up, he wiped the thin sheen of sweat from his face. His gaze turned inwards, questioning.

He looked up, towards the entrance of his quarters. Then, with a nearly inaudible sigh, he started for the intercom system.

* * *

Amelia frowned as she stared at the display before her. The holographic panels displayed what appeared to be a perfectly spherical orb.

Her eyes narrowing in concentration, her fingers flew over the keyboard, attempting to create a more stabilizing effect on the entire framework before initiating the sequence.

"Ready?" Esther, a fellow technician, asked as she glanced from her terminal.

"Just… about… There!" Amelia said, nodding.

To her right, Dylan quickly scanned the readouts. "It's as stable as we're able to make it." He finally said. "Do it."

Esther nodded. "Hold on to your seats." Quickly, she inputted several commands.

The sphere in the centre of the display suddenly flickered and sparkled. Tendrils of crimson energy flashed into existence around the orb, caressing it, feeding it energy.

And as it did so, the orb began to shimmer.

Even from behind tinted goggles, Amelia shut her eyes, knowing what was going to come next.

A dazzling glow suffused the entire room. Almost as soon as it had appeared, however, it vanished once more.

Amelia sighed and pulled the goggles off, looking at the centre of the room.

Lying on the platform it had been placed on was a single orb – only now the holographic panels had shut themselves off. It gleamed silvery-white – obviously metallic.

"Esther." She called wearily. "How's the stability?"

"It's fluctuating between 70 and 80 percent." The female technician reported. "Occasional dips as low as 65."

"Not good enough." Amelia sighed. "Cancel it."

Esther nodded, tapped several keys, and a second lightshow later, the orb had reverted to softly glowing blue it had originally been.

"We still can't reliably electronic data into matter." Dylan let out a frustrated sigh. "We've had successes, sure, but not something we can duplicate. So what's the problem?"

Amelia leaned back. "All our experiments with converting matter into data, then back again reached an acceptable stability very quickly. It's trying to convert raw data into matter that's the issue."

"They already have the basis for exactly how the thing should turn out." Esther pointed out, flipping some of her brown hair back. "The biggest issues we had were with things that experienced growth over time, and we solved that by running an accelerator program to determine beforehand how they'd turn out so the computer would know too."

"True enough." Amelia sighed. "The problem is: Now what?"

_Triririririririririri…_

"Excuse me." Amelia mumbled as she got to her feet. Stepping out into the corridor, she tapped the 'receive' button on her chronometer. "Hello?"

* * *

Franz glanced up from the chair as he heard the soft chime signaling that someone wanted access to his room. Standing, he walked over and tapped the access panel once.

The door opened, revealing Amelia standing in the doorway. "They told me you took the day off." She said in a low voice.

Offhandedly, Franz wondered why in the world the corporation would have bothered to inform Amelia of this, but kept that to himself. "Is there something wrong?" He asked.

"Hm? No, not… not at all. It's just…" Amelia sighed, glanced back over her shoulder. "Franz, I've… I've sort of been assigned to you."

He assumed his blank look was sufficient prompting for Amelia to continue, and apparently she agreed. "Look, it's like this. As someone who has existed in both the virtual and real worlds… You're… you're valuable to the company as… as, well, as research material."

He sighed and took a half-step sideways, inviting Amelia in with a sweep of his hand. She did so, Franz following him up close behind. In truth, he'd already been wondering if indeed the company had not been watching him a bit too closely. Of course, nowhe had to wonder if any information Amelia chose to impart to him at this juncture was going to be the be all and end all of things.

"And?" He prompted.

"So… well, I was told to ensure that there was nothing wrong with you – you were apparently pretty vague when you informed them of your leave."

"No, I feel fine." And that was the truth. Well, physically speaking, anyway. "Shall we proceed on to the topic of you spying on me?"

Amelia winced. "Please… please don't say it like that. It's not as if I see you on a strictly professional level, right? You're my friend, Franz, whether or not the higher ups have told me to make sure nothing untoward happens to you."

_Somehow I doubt that was the extent of the directives concerning you and me._ Franz thought silently, but refrained from opening his mouth. He merely nodded.

Another uncomfortable silence descended on the room. Amelia was biting her lip yet again, Franz noted.

"So…" She finally spoke up. "So if you're not ill or… or anything, then why did you take the day off?"

He closed his eyes. "I needed some time to think." He responded. It was close enough to the truth, he decided. No need to tell her more than that.

"All… all right, if you say so." He heard Amelia's voice, and the note of hesitancy within. "Are we… are we still on for tonight?"

Still keeping his eyes closed, Franz nodded. "Sure. What time should we meet?"

"Hmm… does seven sound like a good time."

Steadfastly keeping his eyelids over his eyeballs, Franz spoke up again. "Would you mind if I proposed an earlier meeting time?"

"And what's that?"

"Now."

* * *

"So we sent Amelia to discern the reason that the subject took the day off." Dylan read off the report, delivered to his desk not ten minutes ago.

"And?" Came the prompt.

"Well, the latest report now includes a day-off request from Amelia, along with a promise of a full report on the subject's condition when she returns."

Esther chuckled at this, but Loren's frowned only deepened.

"If this continues…" He mumbled to himself.

"Sir?"

"Nevermind. Back to work. We can worry about this later."

"Very well, sir."

* * *

Yeah, short update, I know. I split it up a bit.

Thank you for reading, please review.


	9. Chapter 8: Memory's Skyscraper

Proof of Existence

* * *

Chapter 9: Memory's Skyscraper

* * *

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Franz hesitated warily as Amelia stepped into the magna-lift. His last experience had still left him uneasy with the machine. Amelia glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and broke into a chuckle.

"Don't worry, Franz. Your body just isn't used to vertical motion like that. After a while, it'll become second nature to you."

Franz gave a resigned shrug and stepped into the lift. "I just hope whatever cleanup crews this place offers are prepared to deal with my upset stomach."

"Have you eaten anything today?"

"…No."

Amelia grinned. "There you go."

And then the lift dropped.

* * *

Several minutes later, Franz stumbled out of the lift again, looking noticeably greener than before, and leaning on a concerned Amelia for support.

"All I can say is, I had better get used to it, and _fast_." He mumbled wearily before settling down heavily on a nearby bench.

Amelia sat down beside him. Later, after he had recovered, she tapped him on the shoulder and swept her arm out to indicate the vast metropolis before her. "So… what do you think?"

Franz gazed up. Vast buildings, towering up all around them were intersected by great bridges. Around him was a churning mass of humanity, people walking everywhere and anywhere, thronging in and out of doors and gateways. Machinery dotted the landscape, constantly building, repairing, upgrading.

"It's…" He began, trying to find the right words. "Impressive."

Amelia nodded. "It is. Expanding our biosphere would have been difficult, so we decided instead to tunnel down, hollow out the earth. Of course, there's a limit to how deep with can dig – but we're a long way away from reaching that limit, so no worries." She leaned back and smiled. "I know I really didn't have much to do with it… but I'm proud of what we've accomplished. We've messed up a lot, sure, but beneath it all… we have a will to survive. To live."

"Yeah…" Franz nodded, a soft smile making its way to his face. "It's pretty amazing what you accomplished. "It kinda… I know it's stupid, but it kind of reminds me of when we were… when I was fighting Formortiis. At that point, I was terrified and exhausted, but…" Franz smiled. "I didn't stop fighting. I wanted to protect a world… and I wanted to protect our future."

"It's not stupid, Franz." Amelia leaned back on the bench. "We all have our own challenges, even if-" She hesitated. "Even if they're wildly different. We all share the same goals… the same dreams."

Franz smiled, chuckled slightly. "I guess. Thanks, Amelia."

"Anytime." She swung her legs up and forward, pulling herself to her feet. "You feel up to a walk now?"

"As good as I'll ever be." Franz replied as he stood.

* * *

They continued down the busy street – or bridge, really, since the actual area still stretched far below him. "Just how big is this place?"

"Never really bothered to measure." Amelia frowned. "It houses approximately four million people, though. We've got dozens of biospheres all across the globe, and some of them are several orders of magnitude larger than this."

Franz whistled slightly. "Wow. And I thought the Grado Imperial Palace was huge."

"Well, relative to the time period you were in, the Imperial Palace _is_ a massive accomplishment in engineering." Amelia replied, silently realizing that they had gotten to talking as if the land of Magvel was a real, separate entity unto itself.

Well, maybe it was, after all. It existed only in the digital realm, but it existed. Amelia shook her head and sighed somewhat. Things always got so complicated when one tried to think them through…

"Hey, Amelia?"

"Nnh?" She glanced up. Franz was staring curiously at a small alleyway.

"Where does that lead?"

Amelia shrugged. "Who knows. We've built so many gigantic things that a lot of smaller things easily slip through the cracks. We can go check it out, if you want."

Franz nodded. "Sounds like plan."

* * *

As the two of them strolled casually through the alleyway, Franz paid enough attention to the ground around him to ensure he wouldn't trip, while he gazed upwards through the seemingly endless maze of walkways and skyscrapers and infrastructure around him. Here and there, he fancied he could see slight twinkles of sunlight, but it wouldn't be enough to provide anything by way of illumination. Lamps that flooded the area with a gentle light seemed strong enough for the purposes, anyway.

"Do people like going to the surface?"

"Oh, pretty often. We keep a lot of our recreational stuff up there – parks and playgrounds and the like. Of course, down _here_ you have shopping malls, but that's just different, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess." Just then, they rounded the corner, and Franz pulled up short, his eyes widening as he did so.

He wasn't entirely sure whether or not it had been constructed such that a patch of sunlight managed to fall directly onto the single building or whether it was some sort of artificial lighting that gave that building the ethereal glow it had, but in the grand scheme of things, it didn't really matter, Franz supposed.

The structure itself was relatively simple and unadorned, but it still held evidence of the modern design being incorporated into the building. Despite all this, Franz immediately recognized the relatively simple construct for what it was.

A church.

Pausing only to shoot a glance back at Amelia he took several steps forward. The carved wooden doors creaked slightly as Franz opened it. After another moment's hesitation, he entered the sanctuary, Amelia stepping up close behind him.

The inside of the church held a calm stillness that was generally missing from the outside world. Soft light filtered in through several windows, and twin rows of pews were lined up. The entire place was simple – one might go as far to say it was sparse, but everything was well-maintained and kept.

With slow, measured paces, Franz walked down the central aisle, one hand reaching out of brush the polished wood of the pew nearest him.

"Bless you, my child."

Franz started at that (as did Amelia), and glancing around, he noticed an elderly man sitting at a desk in a corner. The youth frowned- the man wasn't dressed in any clerical robes, but his manner of speech and the way he carried himself clearly marked him as a holy man. Well, perhaps things were simply different in this era.

The aged man stood, putting away a pair of spectacles and smiling kindly at the both of them. "Welcome to the Church of Brook Besor. I am Father Eugene. May I ask the reason for your visit?"

Franz rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh… nothing special, Father. We were… we stumbled upon this place, and we, well, we decided to visit it."

The priest nodded. "Very well. I apologize for the relative lack of amenities here. We're a small but rather tight knit community, you see."

"I understand, Father." Franz bowed his head softly.

"Indeed. Well, if you have need of any assistance, feel free to request it. I'll be at my desk."

"Alright. Thank you, Father."

As the priest turned back to his duties, Franz settled himself carefully onto a nearby pew. "You didn't tell me you have churches in this place." He grinned. "If I had known, I wouldn't have had to perform my devotional duties all by myself."

Amelia shrugged sheepishly. "Well, it sort of… it sort of skipped my mind."

The former cavalier frowned. "How could something as important as worship to the Everlasting skip your mind?"

Amelia winced, knowing what she about to say was going to hurt him pretty badly. "Franz, I, uh… I really don't believe in God."

Franz frowned. "Meaning? Did you ask something of Him but not receive an answer you wanted?"

"No, it's… uh," _How do I put this eloquently?_ "Franz, I just… I don't believe there's such a thing as God." _Okay, so much for eloquence…_

She could tell by his reaction that he was shocked by this news. He settled back in the pew, head bent.

"…The world I was in… Magvel." Franz finally spoke softly. "If you didn't believe in a God, why did you create for me a society and a world that did? I was raised in the belief that the Everlasting created our world, that he made us in our image, and loved us dearly." He laughed bitterly. "Although, now I think about it, of course it would be as much a lie as anything else back there."

Amelia walked over and sat down next to him. "See… the time period I set Magvel in… well, the _world_ itself was fictional. But it was based on an actual period of history in this world. And back then… well, just about everybody believed in God. I didn't want to alter things too much, so I just gathered what information I could to… well, create Magvel's religion."

Franz snorted, shook his head. "And this church?" He finally asked.

"Well… most people nowadays don't really believe in a God either. I think the biggest shift came when we had to move into a biosphere. Many people began to feel that if there was a God that truly loved them so much… then he wouldn't have let this happen. But I suppose there're always stalwarts who keep their faith alive. And this is one such group."

Franz nodded, bowed his head. "Amelia? Could I ask you one thing?"

"Yes?"

"The religion of Magvel – the teachings of Saint Latona, the doctrines… you based it on the religion of this world?"

"Well, technically there are several religions, but I drew source material most from the biggest and most prominent one. And yes, it's the same religion that this church is based on."

Franz took another deep breath in and nodded. "Thanks for the information." There was a slight pause, and then… "Amelia… would you mind if I stayed here for a while longer?"

"No… no, of course not." Amelia laid her hand on his shoulder. "You don't mind if I accompany you, right?"

Franz smiled, though he kept his head low. "No. I'm… I'm glad you're here with me, Amelia."

* * *

"Well… I hope you enjoyed your journey out today, Franz."

He nodded. "I did. Thanks for being my tour guide, Amelia."

She grinned. "Hm. I'm glad you felt my services were up to par."

Then before he could say or do anything, she leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Not pausing to see his response, she ducked her head. "Good night, Franz."

Then she turned, walking away as quickly as her legs would carry her.

* * *

Franz, meanwhile, simply stood there, staring down the direction of the hall that Amelia had hurried away in. One hand reached up to touch the cheek that Amelia had kissed him on.

"…" He was silent for a long while. Then, with a shake of his head, he tapped his keycard against the door of his room, opening the door and entering.

The door slid shut behind him silently.

* * *

_It's strange…_ Franz lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling of his room. _Even when I knew that everything about my former life was a lie… I never thought about the possibility that the Faith was false, too._

Amelia had drawn inspiration and source material from the beliefs of a particular faith from her world, but even she saw no real merit in them, aside from the fact that they 'have a good grasp on a morality that we all would benefit more from following', or at least that was what she had remarked earlier during the day.

He had tried not to let it show, but Amelia's 'confession' had stuck with him the whole day.

_She's much smarter than me – that much I can admit. So, if she doesn't believe that a God exists…_He closed his eyes. He was – had been – a simple knight. He'd just tried to perform his duties to the best of his ability. Such a shock to his worldview was allowing several new questions enter his mind; questions that he did not feel the least bit comfortable answering.

_Even if a God exists… what does that mean to me – I was created by humans. If people were created in his image… then what does that make me?_

Then, of course, there had been the kiss… Had it really just been a kiss? Had there been a deeper meaning behind it? Was Amelia trying to tell him something?

He knew he wasn't going to find the answer anytime soon, but still, worry and wonderment kept Franz awake for a rather long time that night.

* * *

"Amelia?"

"Oh, hi, Esther." Amelia glanced up from her workstation. "Anything up?"

"Nothing much." Her colleague fiddled with her shirt for several seconds before speaking up again. "How was your day off with Franz yesterday?"

"Hm? Oh. It was – pleasant." Amelia turned back to her monitor. "Right now I'm whipping a report on my observations of him."

"Hm." Esther leaned back in her desk. "Amelia…?"

"Nh?"

"Most of us are getting pretty concerned about you and your relationship with Franz."

Amelia sighed. "Not this again? Look, Franz has as much of a mind and a heart as any one of us. He's a great friend, someone I enjoy spending time with, and what exactly is wrong with that?"

"It's just…" Esther hesitated. "Well, for one thing, you're supposed to be reporting on his actions. I don't think he'd like that."

"He knows." Amelia said tightly as she continued typing at her keyboard.

"What?"

"I told him. Yesterday. And all things considered, he took it pretty well." _Well enough that I felt confident to kiss him._ Amelia flushed slightly at the memory. _And I still have no idea how he responded to __**that**_

"Amelia, you're treading on thin ice here." Esther stepped forward, placing a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "You've great skill and affinity for the computer and programming – but you've been making some of the higher ups uneasy. And now you're breaking company protocol by telling Franz about what you're doing?"

"…"

"Amelia… if you want to be friends with Franz… well, that's out of my hands, even if I'm not comfortable with it. But you can't just go ahead and give him information like that. You don't have the authority to do so." Amelia could tell by Esther's tone of voice that she becoming rather upset. "You haven't told him about…"

"No. And _that_ stays secret." Amelia nodded, sighed. "I understand what you're telling me, Esther. I'm not going to stop meeting him – but I'll try to be more careful with what comes out in the future." She gave her friend and colleague a tired smile. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I've a report to write."

* * *

Under Amelia's tutelage, Franz progressed steadily in his work with the computer. He had recently mastered to basic concepts of data-matter transferal, and though it was slightly jarring to him to realize that this was how he'd been 'transported' from Magvel to this world, he continued his work speedily and efficiently, and had at one point even managed to furnish Amelia with information that had aided her in her current research in stabilizing matter created from pure data. After this, her colleagues had started to treat him with slightly more respect (operative word being 'slightly').

After his first visit to the city, Franz had started to come out of his shell more often, spending more of his free time in the city. One highlight Amelia remembered fondly was his first visit to one of the shopping malls – and an unfortunate incident involving her and a cup of yoghurt had Franz laughing rather loudly; only after he realized that Amelia might possibly have had her feelings hurt had he silenced himself. Then he had rather helpfully gone to get several napkins and water to clean the yoghurt and fruit chunks from her face.

He'd also had a new routine – one that involved visiting Magvel less than before. However, once every week, Amelia noted that Franz would visit the church that they had run into on his first trip to the city; and often when there was a congregation in the area too. She'd went along with him a couple of times, sitting quietly and listening to the preacher's message on God and love and forgiveness and moral character.

Mostly, however, she was happy simply to spend more time with Franz. Thus far, he hadn't brought the tiny kiss she'd given him up, and she wondered if he was confused about how to proceed, either.

So, one night, she'd asked him if he'd like to join her in going out for dinner.

Of course, it wasn't going to be a date. It was simply two good friends that enjoyed the company of the other spending some quiet, intimate, quality time together… and silently checking to see if there was any potential of them going any farther.

Right. Not a date. Not in the least.

* * *

Thank you for reading. Please review. 


	10. Chapter 9: Crooked Ascension

Proof of Existence

* * *

Chapter 9: Crooked Ascension

* * *

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"So, you come here often?" Franz questioned as he gazed uncertainly at the brightly lit entryway to the restaurant.

"Not really. However, the company perks include us getting subsidized meals off at this particular place." It wasn't the swankiest or most opulent establishment around – but it did have an air of formality decidedly lacking in the areas she was more used to frequenting.

"I hope I like the food." Franz murmured nervously. "I mean, I'm probably not going to be used to whatever high class stuff they serve in here."

"It'll be fine. Trust me."

As they stepped up to the entrance, a man with jet black hair stepped in front of him. "I'm terribly sorry, sir," he began. "But I cannot allow anyone into the establishment if he is not wearing a tie."

All three of them took a moment to glance towards Franz's chest area. He'd deigned to wear a shirt, along with a rather tight collar, which was already more formality than he suspected he was ever going to get used to. Heck, he'd even donned a jacket. But a tie? After trying one of those things on he'd begun to suspect that 'formal' clothing was a nicer way of saying 'uncomfortable clothes that are difficult to wear'. Naturally, he'd neglected to wear one for this particular evening.

"That's… ridiculous." He finally managed.

"Like I said, terribly sorry." The man replied while simultaneously giving off the air that he was anything but. "But rules are rules."

Franz took a step forward, unconsciously balling his right hand into a fist. "We have a _reservation_-"

"Franz." Amelia said calmly. He broke off, glanced briefly at her, and took a half step back. Stepping forward in turn, Amelia drew out a card from her purse. "I believe this should suffice."

The waiter – or whatever he was – took the card, glanced at it, flipped it over, then nodded begrudgingly. "Very well." He murmured. "Stay here, if you please. I'll see what I can do."

The man departed, leaving Franz to glanced over at Amelia quizzically. "And what was _that_?"

Amelia shrugged. "The company card. Since we're affiliated with this restaurant, they guy knows that if he gives us a hard time, there'll be pressure from upstairs." She shrugged. "Still, he can't just arbitrarily lower the standards of the establishment either…"

"So what are you…" Franz blanched. "Oh, no."

The waiter returned just in time, bearing a strip of fabric in his hands. "Here." He said somewhat ungraciously to Franz.

Franz stared in consternation at the pumpkin orange tie the waiter was currently offering him in his outstretched arms. He risked a glance at Amelia who looked as if she was trying her hardest to rein in a giggle.

Resigning himself to his fate with a sigh, Franz began tying.

* * *

Several minutes later, once they were seated, Franz ran a finger on the inside of his shirt collar. "How much longer until I can take this thing off?" He mumbled.

"Not for a couple more seconds." Amelia responded in a distracted voice as she rummaged around in her purse.

"What? Why?" Franz shifted his gaze to her just as she brought out what appeared to be a fat-barreled pen.

"So I can do this." There was a brief flash of light and Franz found himself blinking away the afterimage.

"Hey!" He snapped.

Amelia whistled jauntily as she flicked a switch on the side of the 'pen', causing it to fold out and reveal a screen. "Now, look at you. Isn't it just adorable?" She smirked as she handed it over to Franz.

He stared down at the picture of him dressed in a garish orange tie. "If I know you, you've already sent the backup data to someplace safe like your computer, right?"

Amelia merely smiled angelically.

Handing the camera back to Amelia he sighed and proceeded to remove what he would not-so-affectionately dub as a 'noose' from here on out. "When's the menu arriving?" He queried, in an attempt to change the subject.

"Huh, looks to be pretty crowded tonight." Amelia noted as she glanced around at the other tables. "So I guess the staff may be a little busy." She glanced back at him. "Not terribly hungry, are you, Franz?"

"Nah, I'm good." Franz shook his head. Slowly, he let his gaze shift to the rest of the restaurant's patrons. "Funny," he remarked. "It looks like we're the youngest people here."

"Yeah." Amelia quirked a slight smile. "After all, it's not very often someone my age gets the sort of position I have within the company."

"How old are you, exactly?" Franz asked curiously.

"I'll be turning twenty in a couple of months."

"…" Franz nodded thoughtfully. "About the same age as her, then."

"Around the same age as you, too." Amelia's said softly.

"…I'll be nineteen… a week from tomorrow." Franz recounted. She grinned.

"Well, then we're going to have to plan something special for that day, aren't we?"

Franz gave a slight chuckle. At that moment, a waiter arrived, bearing two menus, and the conversation was broken up as both parties got down to choosing what manner of food would be best suited to filling their stomachs.

* * *

The meal, in Franz's opinion, had been a good one, if not somewhat spicy.

After finishing it, they had, at Amelia's suggestion, decided to head to the upper levels.

As the magna-lift hummed steadily upwards, Franz leaned back against the wall, once more giving thanks for the fact that his body had quickly gotten acclimatized to the speeds at which the transportation device was moving.

"So, you sounded like you had something in mind when you suggested going to the top." Franz remarked.

"Yeah. But let's keep it a surprise, okay? It's not as if you'd be able to understand if I told you what it's all about, anyway."

Franz nodded in acquiescence and closed his eyes, waiting for the lift to carry them to their intended destination.

* * *

"So your big surprise is bringing me to a garden?"

"The biggest one in the Elysium Biosphere." Amelia replied as the both of them strolled over the pond's bridge. "Like it?"

"Love it." He said as he tilted his head to observe fishes darting about in the water. "It's been too long since I've seen some real greenery. And no, the potted plants in the corridors do _not_ count."

Amelia chuckled at that statement. "Yeah... I always liked nature… the wild abundance of life." As they stepped off the bridge and back onto the path, she glanced around. "You know, back when I was designing Magvel, I tried to create my own species and subspecies of plants – my own ecosystem, you could say."

"How'd it go."

"Failed. Terribly." Amelia shifted her gaze downwards. "In the end, I just used data from available, pre-existing flora that would have grown in a climate like Magvel's, and went from there. Even then there were far more bugs than I would have anticipated."

"You actually helped in the creation of Magvel?"

"Helped?" Amelia snorted. "I was made the head of the whole project! Of course, at the time, everyone said it was madness that someone as young as me should be made the head, but apparently the orders came from higher up – maybe they just wanted to test me, I don't know." Tucking her hands into her pockets, she stopped and turned to face Franz, leaning her back against a large boulder. "As it turned out, after we actually designed and implemented the thing, running it became a rather routine affair. It was only recently that we started suffering the malfunctions and issues that resulted in you… well…" She shrugged and fell silent.

Franz sighed and blinked, turning away to gaze at the setting sun. "Wouldn't you know…" he murmured. "It still hurts."

"I… I'm sorry…"

"It wasn't your fault." Franz said softly. "The system instability was out of your hands." He closed his eyes and turned to face her. "I don't know the specifics… but I'm sure you did everything you could."

Amelia opened her mouth, began to speak, to ask a question, then paused and closed it again. "Franz… thank you."

* * *

As they continued their walk through the gardens, the two of them continued their discussions about the local flora, about many of the species of plants that Franz had never laid eyes on before.

Amelia mostly smiled and gave polite but brief replies to Franz as they strolled through the gardens. She was more preoccupied with her own thoughts.

Questions still floated about in her mind. Being largely unused to the rituals and procedures of courtship and romance, she didn't have much of a clue as to how to proceed. She'd hoped her little kiss the other day would have provided enough of a start that she'd feel more confident in how to proceed, but Franz had seemed steadfast enough in ignoring that particular incident that she didn't appear to have made much progress at all.

Letting out a sigh (after checking to ensure Franz wouldn't have heard her), she slowed her pace down somewhat, so that she was now walking slightly behind Franz instead of shoulder to shoulder with him.

She cracked a brief smile as she watched his antics – the wide-eyed wonder on his face as he observed the myriad greenery all around him. Many of the plants found in the gardens could never have grown properly given the climate – it was a carefully regulated procedures carried out by skilled workers that gave such exotic plants a home here.

Returning her attention to Franz, her smile grew more wistful as she continued to watch him. She really liked his smile. It was so kind and gentle – it seemed almost impossible to _not_ feel a deep sense of warmth and safety when you looked at it-

She shook her head, a faint blush forming on her cheeks. She'd noticed herself tending to drift off into dreamland more frequently as of late – particularly when her thoughts concerned Franz.

_Wonder if that's normal._ She sighed and scratched her head. _Is that a sign of being in love or of simply going crazy?_ She'd read a few romance novels, but most of them seemed to involved hearts being set all aflutter, shortness of breath, and the like. She certainly hadn't noticed any of that going on.

Silently, she continued to observe him, wondering what would be the best thing to do.

* * *

"So, enjoyed yourself today?" Amelia asked with a smile as they both stood outside Franz's apartment.

"Yeah." Franz leaned back against the doorway, a contented look on his face. "Thanks for inviting me out, Amelia… and for footing the bill."

"Anytime."

"Mm…" He nodded slightly. "Well, goodnight, Amelia." Standing, he turned and placed his palm against the sensor. The door slid open silently.

Amelia could feel her heart quickening. This was… this might be her only chance! She hadn't quite sorted everything out, true, but… could she afford to waste such an opportunity?

"W-wait!" She called hastily, taking a step forward.

"Huh?" Franz turned back to face her – just in time to see Amelia stepping forward and kissing him.

Amelia closed her eyes as she felt his lips make contact with her own. It felt soft – much softer than she would have expected. The sensation, it was… well, she couldn't find the right word. Well, suffice to say it was very pleasant.

"Mm…" She murmured softly, moving deeper into the kiss. She found herself embracing Franz, wanting to hold him close to her, to never let him go. It felt so… so _right_.

Suddenly she felt strong hands seizing her by the shoulders and pushing her away.

"A- Amelia?" Franz whispered softly as he released her from his grasp. "What are you…"

Subconsciously, she took a half step back. Had she been mistaken after all? "I… uh," she stammered. _Buck up, Amelia!_ "Franz," she said softly. "I… I love you."

For a long moment, he made no reply. Well, no _verbal_ reply. He shifted his gaze away from her, staring guiltily at the floor.

"I… I understand if this comes as a shock to you! Believe me, I wasn't sure about this myself until only a short while ago! I also – I, uh, Franz?" He held up a hand, obviously trying to get her to stop talking.

"It would…" he spoke hesitantly, as if trying to sort out his own thoughts. "It would be so easy to say the same to you…" Franz lifted his gaze, looking her in the eye, and Amelia was stunned by what she saw.

Longing. Desperate, unfulfilled longing. And from that single glance she knew that while she was, in some twisted way, the object of that desire, she was likewise the absolute antithesis of it, an object of sick, twisted desires, and… and at last she began to understand.

"But… I don't love you." He finished painfully.

She nodded, feeling the hot sting of tears in the corner of her eyes. "You love her." She choked out the words. "If you find me at all attractive… it's because I remind you of her."

"Even if she's just a lie…" Franz closed his eyes and looked away again. "I guess I haven't severed my ties to Magvel yet, huh?" He shook his head. "Your smile… your laugh… the – the way you tuck your hair behind you ear, the way you shrug when you don't know the answer to the question…"

_So… it's come to light at last…_ Amelia turned away, trying to blink back the tears. "I guess I understand… I couldn't have… I shouldn't have expected you to be able to break away that easily…" She began to walk away.

A shout from behind. "Amelia!"

She didn't stop, she couldn't stop, and so she kept walking, increasing her pace, trying to put as much distance in between herself and him.

And as she departed, Franz was left standing alone in the hallway,

So very much alone.

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

Thank you for reading. Please review. 


	11. Chapter 10: Havoc's Divide

Proof of Existence

* * *

Chapter 10: Havoc's Divide

* * *

Disclaimer: I own nothing_

* * *

_

Franz kept his eyes shut even as he roused himself from slumber. He lay there on the bed for several minutes, breathing in and out steadily.

"My birthday…"

_Or at least, the day I was made to believe was my birthday. I could've been created anytime, for all I know._ Sighing, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, pulling himself up.

In the predawn darkness of the early morning, the room was chilly – nothing he wasn't used to. Franz quickly began his regimen of morning exercises, barely even putting any thought into it.

In the past week since their… well, 'date' seemed to be the most appropriate word, he hadn't spoken to Amelia once. He got the distinct feeling that she was trying to avoid him, and after that night, he couldn't say he really blamed her.

After completing the last of his stretches, he proceeded on his jog around the compound. This early in the morning, the only people around would be maintenance crew and the various automatons that performed most of the grunt work. His feet pounded out a steady rhythm on the floor as he made his way through the cavernous hallways.

As he ran, he pondered the situation. He had seen Amelia several times throughout the course of the week, but always at a relative distance. And though he wasn't exactly certain, he thought that lately she had been looking rather depressed.

While it didn't seem that leaving Amelia alone was the best course of action, he had a feeling that whatever he said to Amelia would simply make her feel worse – not least because he was the cause (partially) of her current distress anyway.

At times, he really wished that life could be a lot simpler, that choices just presented themselves to you, or if the appropriate course of action just ran up and bumped into you-

Just then, he rounded the corner and collided with Amelia.

Franz stumbled but managed to keep his footing, whereas Amelia was knocked onto her bottom. The file she had been holding on to was sent skidding away. As she picked herself up, Franz stepped over and retrieved the file, handing it back to her.

"Th- thanks." She stammered. Before Franz could say a word, she turned away, obviously intent on leaving.

"Amelia!" At his plaintive call, she paused, shooting a hesitant glance backwards.

Quickly, he placed himself directly in front of her, noting that she glanced away, refusing to meet his gaze. She was biting her lip again.

He hesitated, unsure of how to begin. Finally, he gathered his resolve and opened his mouth.

"Amelia, I-"

"I'm sorry."

"Wha-?"

"I-I shouldn't…" She stammered. "It was rash of me – I should have just kept quiet. It's… everything isn't…" Franz caught the glimmering of tears beginning to form in Amelia's eyes. "I'm sorry!" She said again, before breaking past Franz and running down the hallway.

"…" Silently, he stood there, watching her shrink into the distance.

* * *

Several hours later, Franz hunched over his terminal, poring over a complicated series of figures and words. With a sigh, he sat back, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"I think my eyesight's getting worse." He mumbled tiredly.

"So, in order to transfer matter from a digital frame to the corporeal world, the settings required are as such…" He murmured to himself as he returned to work.

Most of the tasks he was engaged in were relatively mundane affairs that people could follow simply by consulting a relevant text that explained the situation in detail, and with a fair amount of credibility and authority behind it.

Amelia and colleagues of her level and rank handled the situations that involved breaking new ground – and recently they had been tied down with some new project that was taking up a fair amount of time.

In between that, and her determined attempts to avoid him, it wasn't at all surprising that this morning had been the most interaction he'd shared with her in the past week.

Still, she couldn't avoid him forever. Franz didn't want to force an answer out of her, but it _was_ beginning to annoy him that she refused to come to terms with him about their relationship. Sure, she needed time, but wasn't an entire week enough for that?

Apparently not, he decided unhappily as he remembered how she'd behaved when he'd bumped into her earlier. Rubbing his forehead, he continued his work, trying to clear his mind of current distractions.

Whenever Amelia was ready to settle matters, he would be, too. But until then, all he could do was wait.

* * *

"…lia…"

Her head rested on her elbow which was itself lying on her work desk. With her free hand, she traced lazy circles on the cold plastic. She watched the revolutions with hooded eyes, her expression distant.

"…mel…"

She knew that behaving like this wasn't right. At the very least, she owed him an explanation, some time together to talk about things and where to go from there. But somehow, whenever she though about it, she failed to summon up the necessary courage to go through with the whole thing.

Maybe it was for the best… but then again, he probably wasn't comfortable with the way things were either… and she knew that deep down, she was going to have to one to initiate the process of recovery.

And yet…

"AMELIA!"

"Ah!" She jerked upright, quickly casting around for the source of whoever had called her name. It appeared in the form of Esther casting a worried gaze down at her.

"Amelia, snap out of it." She said crisply. "You've been your funk for a week now, and we can't afford to be lax – not with the research at its current stage."

"Got it. I'm sorry." Amelia mumbled quickly as she refocused her attention on the computer screen. "The transferal should be ready in a couple of minutes – I'll let you know."

"Mm." Esther gave a dissatisfied shake of her head and returned to her own workstation.

Taking several calming breaths, Amelia cleared her mind of distractions, and focused.

"Alright, the scanners are all prepared for this – we're ready."

The test subject glanced about curiously – a dog, one of countless they had for the purposes of experimentation. Of course, they'd received and endless amount of flak from activists over that, but that was nothing new. Of course, Amelia herself wasn't too comfortable with the idea of using dogs as test subjects, but she allayed her misgivings by reminding herself that the alternative – using humans – wasn't really an option, and that none of them were ever seriously harmed.

"Energy levels at optimal level."

Amelia nodded. "Do it."

There was a blaze of incandescent light as Amelia shut her eyes and looked away from the blinding glare. The dog had been outfitted with protective eyewear, and so wasn't in any danger. This was a good thing, since if any of the animals were ever hurt in the slightest way; the activists would go absolutely crazy over it.

Finally, the intense glare faded, and Amelia looked back. The dog was standing there, wagging its tail, head cocked to one side in a puzzled manner.

"Dylan."

He nodded and flipped a switch. A panel rose from the ground, three buttons inserted into the paneling – one red, one blue, one yellow.

Then everyone present in the room sat back – and waited.

The dog poked his way over, nuzzling the panel eagerly as Amelia craned her neck in anticipation.

Finally, it lifted its paw, tapped the buttons in order – red, yellow, blue, blue, red.

The room erupted in cheers and yells.

"We did it! It works!"

"It's a success!"

"Cut it out!" Amelia snapped. The room fell silent once more. "It may have been a fluke. Run the second test. Oh, and reward it first."

A dog biscuit was quickly dispensed, which the dog snapped up hungrily. Meanwhile, the panel slid back into the wall, to be replaced by another one, with a series of light displays.

The dog watched attentively as the multi-coloured lights blinked back and forth. Finally, when the blue light blinked, the dog let out a bark.

Red, green, yellow, red, red, green… Silence.

Red, yellow, yellow, blue – "Rouf!"

Amelia tapped one finger to her chin. "Alright. Enough. Reward it."

Esther looked over. "So…"

"It _looks_ to be a sure thing." Amelia allowed herself a smile. "We can report a success on this one."

They had been experimenting with storing memory as electronic data, much like the physical matter conversion experiments. The primary difference was that it was far easier to pull off – for whatever reason, Amelia still wasn't quite sure.

The experiment had essentially transferred the memories of a dog to another – the first had been trained to realize that performing a series of actions would get it reward. The memories of this had then been copied and transferred into the second dog, which had received no such training – the one currently in the container, tucking away at his doggy treat.

"That's one bright spot in the week, I suppose." She murmured to herself.

"Amelia?" Esther looked curiously at her.

"I guess that's it for the day." Amelia replied wearily. "I, um, I have some personal issues to look to, so could you oversee debriefing and cleanup, please?"

"Sure."

"Thanks. You're a pal."

* * *

Later in the day, Franz was heading back to his room when a call from behind him caused him to halt.

"Hm?" He turned to see Dylan walking up to him.

"Franz, you're pretty strong, aren't you?" He questioned as he walked up.

Franz hesitated, considering the question for a moment. "Strong enough. Why?"

"There's a bunch of papers that need to be brought to storage, and I was wondering if you could help with them."

He nodded. "All right. Let's go."

* * *

"So, you succeeded in transferring memories?"

"Yes. It was pretty routine, actually." Dylan said monotonously. "If you want, here's the standard work one needs to do to get the entire thing running. Just don't show it to any of our competitors." He finished with a laugh.

Franz accepted the booklet, rolling it up and tucking it into his pocket. Who knows? It might make for some worthwhile reading later.

Once inside the storage room, the two of them busied themselves with stacking and filing away the requisite papers. It always amazed Franz how much paperwork was needed over the most seemingly mundane and rudimentary of tasks. Oh, well, it wasn't his place to question.

Several minutes later, Dylan sighed as he thumbed the last few remaining sheathes of paper. "These belong in Security class A." He mumbled. "Over here…"

As he thumbed through the manila files, Franz caught sight of a familiar looking face. "Hey, isn't that-" He began.

"Hm?" Dylan looked over to where he was pointing. "Oh, yeah." He paused. "That's you all right. The file… it contains the results of your experiments."

"Oh." Franz felt the twinge around his heart – he was used to that by now. But there was something else… a deep sense of nostalgia?

"Could I… could I have a look at that file?"

Dylan frowned. "It's classified for a reason, you know."

"But…. But it's _my_ file, isn't it?"

The burly man sighed. "Look, the point is, I could get in trouble if it turns up missing, okay?"

"There's no harm, really." A smooth voice intruded on their conversation. They turned to see Loren, head of the department in the room with them, a smile on his face. "It's Franz's file, correct? He should get a chance to read it – learn more about himself."

Dylan appeared unconvinced. "But…"

"No need to worry about it, Dylan." Loren nodded. "Franz, you can borrow the file if you want it – but you're going to be held responsible for anything untoward that happens – and the penalties _will_ be severe. Agreed?"

Franz gazed over at the plain envelope. "Alright." He nodded. "Agreed."

* * *

Amelia rounded the corner, her head held low. She knew what she was supposed to do – but she lacked the courage. How _could_ she go up to Franz and start sorting things out – especially after embarrassing herself in front of him a week earlier?

She paused, face burning. She needed courage, but she – she simply couldn't summon up enough of it to go face him.

Couldn't she?

She paused, swallowed hard. "Alright, Amelia," she murmured to herself. "Think things through. Franz isn't the sort to make you feel bad about that sort of thing – he won't bring it up unless you do. But if it becomes too much, you can always blurt it out and - and what?" She scowled. "I'm going to be uncomfortable talking to him regardless."

"But I can't just go up to him and ask him about what happened, can I?" She paused. "Franz… he can be brusque, sure, but that's not the point. The point is… the point is…" She clutched at her head. "Talking about this is just going to be too damned uncomfortable."

"Courage… courage. Argh. Why do I never feel bold and secure when I need to." Amelia growled to herself.

Just then, the sound of voices floated around the corridor.

"Look, I'm just saying that he shouldn't have done that? It's not a good precedent!" Dylan's voice, clearly annoyed.

"What Loren says, goes. We learnt that a long time ago, have't we?" Now Esther's, a hint of amusement in it.

"I know! But that's the point! Why would he- Oh, hey, Amelia." Dylan greeted her as he rounded the corner and spotted her.

"Hey yourself." Amelia smiled. "What were you two talking about?"

"Oh, strangest thing." Dylan sighed. "I got Franz to help me sort out some files, and then he sees the file containing his personal data in relations to the experiment-"

"You didn't give it to him, did you?" Amelia blurted out, a sudden constriction in her heart.

"Well, no, _I_ didn't. But then Loren shows up and tells me it's perfectly fine, that Franz can take it off, la-dee-da-dee-da, and so he does. I don't get what he's thinking – it's a breach of secure-"

"Loren did _WHAT_?" Amelia demanded, feeling her blood run cold. "That's insane! He would never- he knows Franz can't- he – he…" She stammered. Why? How could this…

"Look, I don't know why he did that either – but he did. And yeah, I know, I'm not particularly happy about-"

Amelia shoved past Dylan, uncaring that he was pushed into Esther, who staggered and let out a cry of surprise. Pouring every bit of energy she could find into her legs, she sprinted as fast as she could for Franz's room.

Amelia couldn't remember the last time she had prayed, but she did so now.

_Please, God, please. Let me not be too late. Please, don't let Franz open that file._

The sound of her pumping blood pounding in her ears, Amelia ran.

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

Sorry about taking so long to update. Thanks for reading, please review. 


	12. Chapter 11: The Brink of Despair

Proof of Existence

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Chapter 11: The Brink of Despair

* * *

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

As Amelia reached Franz's quarters she all but fell upon it, hammering frantically at the intercom.

"Franz! If you're in there, open up! Please! Franz!" She shouted as loud as she dared, hammering at the door.

There was a silence that stretched on for far too long. Then, abruptly, a clicking noise which signified that the door had been unlocked.

"Come in." His voice was terse, drained of any overt emotion.

The door slid open, and Amelia stepped through, allowing herself to hope for a brief moment that she wasn't too late, that Franz hadn't begun reading the documents, and that she could still… well, stop him from reading it. Somehow.

That hope vanished an instant later as she saw Franz settled on his reading chair, a dossier open on his lap, his expression passive as he continued to calmly read through the files.

A feeling not unlike having just taken a punch directly to the gut found its way into Amelia's body. She stood there, silent, trembling.

Helpless.

Franz didn't say anything to her for a long moment. Then he looked up with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes and made the horrible feeling in her gut intensify.

"Why, hello, Amelia." He said softly. "Fancy seeing you here. I was just catching up on some of my reading. This is fascinating stuff, really." Reaching over, he plucked a sheet of paper from the pile in front of him, holding it up to eye level. "Shall I read it out for you?" He questioned. Not waiting for an answer, he began.

"Subject name, Franz Halder. Subject's age at point of acquisition, fifteen. Date of initiation, February Twelfth, Year twenty twenty-nine." Shuffling the papers a bit, Franz located the next spot and continued. "Date, June Sixth, Year two twenty twenty-eight. We have successfully located a potential subject for the experiment in the worldframe. Subject is a resident in the Daveshire Boarding House located near the outskirts of Elysium Biosphere. Here's the next entry; Date, June Twenty-Eight, preliminary tests have shown the subject is indeed suitable for the procedure. Date, December Ninth, we have successfully secured the subject and have begun process Beta – 32 upon the subject. In the meantime, all security measures must be taken to ensure that this is kept secret from the populace at large. January Fourteenth, process has been completed. Subject no longer retains any memory of his previous life. Februrary Second, we have successfully created an artificial memory based on the world we will be locating this subject in. Subject is to be kept in isolation until preparations are complete. And here's the last entry of this little journal – February Twelfth, subject has been successfully integrated with the worldframe. No apparent malfunctions have been detected, although several fluctuations in performance were noted." Franz set the paper aside, and picked up a bundle.

"Now, _this_ stack here details the process of their grand plan." Franz said, once more with no apparent emotion in his voice. "As it turns out, all attempts to create matter out of computer data wasn't working very well – you've told me as much. So they decided first to aim for what appeared to be a simpler goal – the conversion and integration of a living organism into a digital setting. So they did. They found a young boy by the name of Franz, and since he was an orphan, no one would miss him. They then proceeded to erase all his memory, and while they were at it, they would give him some false ones, before dumping him into a digital world. The Atlas project, they called it. And apparently it succeeded – for a while, anyway." He shook his head. "By the way, right here? It lists a certain Ms. Silva as overseer of the entire project. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, _would you, Amelia_?"

She swallowed. "Franz, I-"

"I was…" He shook his head. "Real. I had a family – one that searched high and low for me." He flung down a yellow newspaper cutting that detailed his disappearance. "I had a home, I had a life… and you took it all away. You forced me to restart my life from scratch. _Twice._"

She shook her head. "Please, Franz, listen to me! It's not-"

"Get out. Now."

She paused. Franz was staring at her, his face a mask of naked rage. "I…" She began, softly.

"I said leave." He replied stonily. "I never…" He paused, collected himself, and closed his eyes.

"I don't want to see your face, Amelia. Never, ever, again."

* * *

Loren sat at his desk, calmly filing away the papers he had just finished working on. That particular task completed, he leaned back, smoothing out his gleaming white suit.

The days were long and getting longer, he reflected bitterly as he brought out yet another stack of requests and propositions that needed his approval before any decisions could be made. Tedium at its very worst, he reflected sourly.

Abruptly the sound of a commotion drifted in from outside his office. Raising his head to stare at the doorway, he frowned.

"You can't go in! He said specifically not to be dist-"

The door slid open, revealing Amelia as she barged into the office, eyes ablaze with barely restrained rage.

"LOREN!" She cried out in fury. "What the hell were you _thinking_? You gave Franz the data on _his own experiment!_"

The head of the bio-engineering department glanced up and nodded calmly. "I did. Is there a problem?"

"A problem?" The blonde-haired girl looked about ready to launch herself forward and throttle him. "I'll show you a _prob_-"

His secretary entered an instant later, obviously flustered. "I'm so sorry, sir! I tried to tell her you won't seeing anyone, but she wouldn't-"

"It's fine." Loren nodded briefly. "You may leave."

Once his aide had left, Loren turned his attention back to Amelia. Clasping his hands together on his desk, he sighed. "You were saying?" He asked conversationally.

"Loren, if Franz spreads word of this, the authorities will go _nuts_. They'll shut us down forever, they'll hit us with every lawsuit in the book, all our research will be confiscated, _and then some!_ How could you be so… so… flippant over something so important?"

Loren sat silently, receiving Amelia's tirade. Once she had finished, he shook his head. "Really. I was about to ask you the same thing."

He held up a finger to counteract Amelia's start of surprise and indignation. "Hear me out. Firstly, let us be honest. Your coming here isn't about compromising company security in the least – it's because your boyfriend now hates you. Second, I find it difficult to believe that you haven't the slightest inkling of just what you've been doing by growing closer to the subject-"

"His name is Franz!"

"Yes, so I've heard. Back on the topic at hand, you've been interacting with him daily, bringing him out into the open, and in general helping him explore Elysium Biosphere. The memory wipe procedures aren't one hundred percent reliable – if any of the locations he visited triggered a memory backlash we'd be in largely the same situation as… well, the one we happen to be in right now."

"The chances of that happening are a million to one!" Amelia snapped hotly. "The risk-"

"I'm not finished," Loren intoned smoothly. "Furthermore, don't think I'm not aware of the little excursions into the Magvel Worldframe that you two have been holding. The primary reason I changed my mind about deleting the data concerning that was that the core of that system could be properly utilized as a stepping stone in the further integration of the Virtual Reality project – _not_ as a playground for the subject." Picking up a file lying at the side of the desk, he tapped it. "His continued interaction with the Worldframe – even on as minimal a level as the one in practice – stands the risk of further corrupting the data." He placed the file neatly down. "The _relationship_ between the two of you presented significant risks to the company – one that I can't afford."

"And you sought to end this relationship by _giving him information about his past?_" Amelia cried. "What is going on in that head of yours?"

"A necessary and ultimately insignificant sacrifice." Loren shrugged amiably, the ghost of a mocking smile on his face. "It won't matter how much the subject knows if he never gets to tell anyone about it."

_That_ brought Amelia up short. "W… what?" She stammered.

"The subject is to be immediately incarcerated at detention block C-8. All relevant data that can be extracted from the subject will be. Following that, further analysis will have to be made on the opportunity cost of retaining the subject for study versus sacrificing him and performing research on the remains."

"…You'd kill him." Amelia said softly.

"A crude word for a crude purpose." Loren said dismissively. "Call it what you will."

"If you, for a _second_, think that I'm going to let you get away with this-" She started, advancing on him menacingly.

_Thwip._

Amelia halted, staring uncomprehendingly at the dart now protruding from her left shoulder.

"I thought you might have something to say along those lines." Loren shook his head as he placed the tranquilizer gun away. "You're painfully easy to predict, you know."

She staggered back slightly, obviously coming under the effects of the drug. "Damn…" She mumbled, her words slurring together. "Damn you… Loren." Then she stumbled and collapsed to the floor.

Loren waited a few more vital seconds before reaching under the desk and thumbing an inconspicuous black button. "Security?" He intoned pleasantly. "This is the head of the Bioengineering department. Please come to my office immediately. There's been an… incident."

* * *

"Ah, Franz." As the youth entered his office, Loren gazed at him, an unreadable expression on his face. "Finished perusing your file?"

The young man shook his head and tossed the file onto Loren's desk. "You're an asshole," he said softly, trying to rein in the surge of emotion that he felt.

"I suppose you're right." Loren nodded. "That _is_ how one rises to the top, nowadays. Now, Franz, if you'd be so kind, these good men will take you to your new place of residence."

He was aware of two of the security guards stepping up behind him. A harsh snort escaped his lips. "What game are you playing here, Loren?"

"No game, I'm afraid." The older man flashed a predatory grin at Franz. "I'm not sure how well versed you are in the legal matters of the world, but let's just say that if word of your past got out, there'd be a rather large uproar. I can't have that, you know. For the good of the company and all that-"

The brawnier of the two guards laid a hand on Franz's shoulder. "Move along now, and no funny-"

Franz exploded into action. Ducking low, he brought his elbow up in a horizontal arc, slamming it into the security guard's midsection. A _whuf_ of air escaped the surprised man and he stumbled back.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the second guard reaching down for his weapon. Silently, Franz cursed the era where guns made the skill and strength of the individual all but worthless, and moved forward.

The gun had just cleared the guard's holster when Franz reached him. Ducking in close to make it harder for the guard to shoot him, he rammed his shoulder into the guard's chest and seizing a hold of the firearm at the same moment.

Taking a short jump away, he aimed the weapon at the other guard, who had recovered sufficiently to begin to draw his. "Don't try it."

Apparently the guard wasn't used to being threatened. That or he had guessed that Franz wouldn't be proficient in the use of firearms. His hand grasped the butt of his gun, intending to bring it to bear.

One gunshot later and the guard staggered away, uttering a stream of curses and clutching his bleeding hand. His gun lay forgotten on the floor. The other man, and a sharp look from Franz was sufficient to get him to back off.

"Now, Loren, where were we?" Franz questioned softly, training the gun to bear on him.

The executive was visibly dismayed by the sudden turn of events, although he maintained his composure. "I fail to see how disabling my men is going to aid you in any way. Do you intend to shoot men as well?"

"The thought did cross my mind." _Several dozen times._

"Be reasonable, won't you? Calm down and think this through."

"Oh, I believe I have. If I don't resist, you throw me in a jail cell and I'll spend the rest of my life rotting there – until you decide to 'sacrifice' me for further research. Thank you, no."

Loren inclined his head slightly. "Then perhaps a deal can be made."

Franz's laugh was harsh. "You have nothing I want." _I can't afford to delay. For all I know, he's already summoned more guards._

The ghost of a smile flitted across the executive's face. "I have Amelia. Would that do?"

"…What?"

The back wall of the office slid away, revealing the blonde-haired girl tied firmly to a chair, a gag over her mouth. At the sight of Franz, her eyes widened and a muffled sound made its way out.

"I assume you don't want your friend hurt." Loren said softly. "If so, you'll do exactly as I-"

"You're an idiot, Loren. What makes you think I don't feel like shooting her myself?"

Amelia reacted to this as if she'd been struck a physical blow. Aside from that, all else in the room was still.

"…You're bluffing." Loren finally said. "And I called it."

"Oh?" Franz's voice was low. "Am I?"

There was a loud report from the gun held in Franz's arm. Then he looked at Loren. Away from Amelia. Away from the tiny hole in her chest.

Loren was now silent, and rather pale.

Slowly, Franz began backing up to the door, ensuring that the two guards weren't anywhere near him. On the way, he slowly stooped, picking up the second firearm.

As he reached the exit of the office, he turned to give a quick glance at Loren.

"You misjudged a lot of things, you know."

"You can't possibly think you'll leave this building alive," was Loren's only response.

Franz made no reply. Turning, he left the room.

* * *

The blaring noise of the alarms made it hard to concentrate as Franz sprinted through the building. So far he'd seen no other guards, but he knew his luck couldn't last forever. Still, perhaps it'd last him long enough…

After several more nerve-wracking seconds, he found his destination. Unguarded.

Good.

Franz allowed himself the tiniest of smiles. Loren had misjudged many things indeed. It would only be natural for him to assume that Franz's goal would be to leave the building – and since the security cameras wouldn't be working right now, the guards had no way of determining otherwise.

He didn't have time to debate the lunacy of his plan, and so, throwing open the door to the room, he stumbled inside, to be met by the soft glow of computers.

Hunched over the nearest screen, he began frantically typing away. It was alright. He knew how to do this.

As long as he didn't mess up…

Finally he let out a breath of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and hit entered.

The darkened room was temporarily lit by a surge of flaring light from behind Franz. When it finally faded, Franz turned around.

Slowly, he walked over to the slim figure, lying on the ground. In the dim light of the darkened room, the figure's armour gleamed softly.

Crouching, he grasped the figure by the shoulder, shaking it, once, twice, three times, until the was a soft murmur and a stir.

"Wake up, Amelia," Franz said. "It's time to go."

* * *

Chapter End

* * *

Thanks for reading. Yes, I know it's short. Please review. 


	13. Chapter 12: Ruin and Creation's Passage

Proof of Existence

* * *

Chapter 12: Ruin and Creation's Passage

* * *

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"Franz…?" Amelia blinked, trying to get everything into focus. As expected, she failed miserably. The person standing in front of her remained a vaguely shaped blur.

His touch, however, was gentle. Reassuring. Slowly, the blurred lines began to sharpen, began to focus onto her view of Franz, staring down at her with worried eyes.

"Franz…" She breathed out again.

"Amelia… what do you remember?"

_Remember?_ Everything was fuzzy… but even as she concentrated, the wave of blurred images coalesced, shifting into a neatly ordered timeline, images of her pleading, raging… dying.

"You…" She whispered softly. "You shot me."

"I know." He closed his eyes, nodded. "I'm sorry. I couldn't see any other way."

She took hold of his offered hand, clambering to her feet. "It's so odd. This body… it feels like mine, yet it doesn't. She's… she just feels a whole lot stronger. More _active_."

"…" Franz gazed over at her. "What happens to the Renais Amelia, now that you have her body instead?"

"Well, I… I'm not sure. I have both sets of memories. I can't explain – it's sort of like I remember doing two completely different things at the same time." She sighed. "Renais Amelia didn't actually have a functional mind, though. I'm still me, Franz, don't worry."

"Good to hear. Could I get a hand with this?"

"Of course." Hurrying over, she quickly began manipulating the controls, setting up the virtual pathways and connections.

About halfway through, though, she paused and Franz noticed. Gazing over at her, he uttered a low "What is it?"

"It's just…" Amelia's smile was melancholy. "I never expected that things would turn out this way."

_Back in your room, on that day…_

* * *

"_I don't want to see your face, Amelia. Never, ever again."_

_She squeezed her eyes shut, trembling violently. She knew that every word of his was true. His hate __**was**__ fully justified. He had every right to demand that she leave._

_And yet she could not. She could not sever him from her life._

_Abruptly, she fell to her knees, head hung down. "Please, Franz." She pleaded. "Just… just let me explain."_

"_Amelia! What the hell do you think-" She heard Franz clambering to his feet._

"_I'm sorry! I'm sorry for what I did to you! I'm sorry for everything! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She blurted out, almost hysterical, the words forcing themselves out past the tightness in her throat._

_She heard Franz walking over to her, then his strong hands hoisting her to her feet, such that he was staring at him straight in the eye. Hastily, she wiped at her tears, clearing away the burred veil. She saw with clarity that he was still glaring at her._

"_Maybe you truly are sorry, Amelia." He spoke softly. "So what? I'm not impressed. After everything you did to me, you __**should**__ be."_

"_I know." She sobbed, hiccupped and took a half-step back. A part of her still wondered at the weakness she was displaying now, but that faded in the light of her remorse. "I did an awful thing. I can't… Please, Franz. Forgive me. I…"_

"_Forgive you?" He repeated the statement in a tone that suggested he couldn't believe that she would ask something like this. "Why should I? What have you done, Amelia, to warrant my forgiveness?"_

"_I haven't." She replied softly, eyes downcast. "I… I've done nothing to merit your forgiveness. I'm not…" She swallowed. "I'm not asking for justice, Franz. I begging for your mercy."_

_He closed his eyes, stepped away, slumping, almost collapsing onto his chair. He didn't speak for a very long moment, merely covering his face with his hands. Finally, he pulled them away, and without looking at her, uttered a single word. "Why?"_

_Silently, Amelia stumbled over to the bed and sat down it. Never lifting her eyes, she began to speak in a slow, measured tone. "Back when I was made head of this project… I was so proud of myself. So elated that I… that someone as young as I was could be placed in charge of something like this._

"_But then… we ran into snags. Problem after problem. Failure after failure. But we knew that we could do it! If only… if only we had time. But our supervisors kept breathing down our necks, kept demanding results._

"_Then, we'd hit upon the idea of the worldframe – that we could, in theory, digitally insert a human within the worldframe – and it would behave exactly the same as if it were real. I… I was desperate. At that time, all I could think about was how my career would be tanked if I couldn't find anything to give the bosses."_

"_So you kidnapped me." Franz said tightly. "And then you erased my memories, stuck me in a digital creation, forcing me to accord to your whims all for your precious 'research'."_

_Silent, Amelia nodded. "I was… the first time I actually laid eyes on you, you were already comatose, just… waiting transfer. I didn't know you, aside from the fact that you had very little relationships. The reports… they all said that you wouldn't be missed."_

"…"

"_I… I tried to rationalize what I did. I thought… I could give you friends – a brother, a mentor. I… thought…" She trembled. "I thought I could give you myself."_

"_Yourself."_

"_Franz, I…" How could she even say this? She gritted her teeth. No more games. She would tell him everything. "When I was promoted to head of this project, I threw myself into it… everything I had. I wanted to prove I could do it. I wanted to prove it to everyone. And so… I shut myself in. I ended up driving away the few friends I had before the promotion. If you'd seen me then… you'd have seen a sad, lonely girl who was giving everything she had into her work because she had nothing else._

"_You… I didn't know you then. But, when I read through your file, it kept striking me that you wouldn't be missed, that your disappearance wouldn't make any waves. And it was true – the orphanage simply filed a police report, and that was the end of it. No one ever truly tracked us._

"_You were just as lonely as I was, back… before." Amelia looked towards Franz. "I don't know what I felt – maybe I thought you were a kindred spirit. And… and then I decided."_

"_To create yourself." Franz stated, his voice low. "To program a digital copy of yourself, that would be sent into Renais, made to interact with me, become my closest friend… and more."_

"_Yes," She confessed miserably. "It's true. When I saw myself – an avatar of myself - talking with you laughing with you, even if just for a moment… I didn't feel quite so alone anymore."_

_Silence descended upon the room, Franz sitting on the chair, Amelia on the bed. Neither looking at the other._

_Finally, she heard the sound of shuffling, and she glanced up to see Franz neatly filing away the papers of his dossier. "Franz?" She asked softly._

"_Well, now you've told me everything – or at least I presume it's everything." Franz said levelly. "What do you expect me to do?"_

_She shook her head. "I – I don't know. I…" _I want you to forgive me, Franz. I want us to be together again, because more than anything, I never want to have you angry at me, never want us to be like this – _She reached up to wipe away a fresh flow of tears. "I just… I'm so sorry, Franz."_

_Franz sat silent for a long moment. Then, standing, he walked over and closed the door to his apartment before turning back to face her._

"_Okay. Now what?" Franz said softly. "Let's say I __**do**__ forgive you, Amelia. Let's say we pretend this messy little incident never occurred, and we go on our merry ways in life. What are you going to do?"_

"_What? I…" Amelia paused, suddenly caught on the wrong foot. "I… don't know." She finally confessed._

"_Will you go back to working here?" Franz shrugged. "You had no qualms about doing so before, when you knew full well what they had done, do you have any now?"_

_Amelia felt trapped. Torn. What they had done – what _she_ had done – to Franz was inexcusable. And yet… to turn her back on this would mean abandoning all that constituted her life._

_Could she make such a decision?_

"_I… I need to think about this." She said softly as she got to her feet. She turned towards the door - and caught sight of the expression on Franz's face._

_He held her gaze for a second before turning away, staring at the wall._

_She took two steps towards the exit before the implication of what she was doing hit her. Franz would never accept the company who had done this to him. Never._

_If she left now, she would lose him – forever._

_Either way, one part of her life would be thrown to the void, never to be reclaimed._

_She paused, looked to Franz, who was still staring steadily at the wall, and silently, walked over to him._

"_Franz…" She began softly. He stiffened, looked to her._

"_My work was my life. I threw everything I had into it. All my time, all my energy… it all went into my computer. I told myself that I would bring breakthroughs. That I could help all of humanity."_

"_So if you leave the work, everything that was your life gets deleted." His voice carried no trace of emotion. "I see."_

"_No. You don't. I __**was**__ my entire life, Franz." She paused. "Not anymore. Even if I cast away my life's work… I still have you. If…if you will have me." The last line made her condition plain to both sides._

_Amelia was staking everything, __**everything**__, on Franz being able to turn to her, look her in the eye, and forgive her, the person who had ruined his life twice._

_Franz made no reply for a very long while. Then he stood, walked over to the wall and tapped it once, revealing the window that overlooked the vast city._

"_Amelia," he said. "Let's make one thing very clear. What you've done to me – I don't think the pain will ever go away. Back in… Magvel, General Seth received a wound from Valter. The wound healed well enough – but not fully. Every once in a while General Seth would wince as the pain flared again. As the old hurt was revisited._

"_Now, that was all created by the programming of you and your colleagues. But I believe the same applies here. It may lie dormant for a while, but the memories may be dredged up, and the old pain will surge, and I will wince, remembering the hurt."_

_Franz cast his gaze downwards. "I say this because I believe someone who will be a very good reminder of this… will always be close by my side." Finally, he turned once more to face her. "I can't say I forgive you, Amelia. Not yet. Not so soon. But… I'm willing to try. To remember the hurt, to clutch it in my hand… and to let it go."_

_Amelia couldn't properly describe the surge of emotion that flooded her at that instant. Surprise, certainly. Elation, of course. Relief, jubilation, triumph, grief… it all mixed together into a mighty tidal wave. The next clear memory she had was of her flinging her arms around Franz, holding him tightly. He stiffened for a moment, then she felt his hesitant arms embracing her in return._

_Finally, when she pulled away and began wiping the tears of gratitude from her face, Franz's expression hardened. "Amelia… I don't know about you. But I've had it with this company. I'm leaving."_

"_The company?" Stupid question. If she was leaving, then of course he would as well, wouldn't he?_

"_Yes, maybe the whole biosphere. You told me there're transports. We can go somewhere else, find some other life…"_

_Amelia but her lip. "They'll… they'll try to stop you, Franz. If they… if they told you the truth, that means they're pretty certain that they'll be able to prevent you from telling anyone about it."_

* * *

Even now, Franz's softly spoken answer rang in her mind. _"Let them try."_

Returning her focus to the present, she saw to that things were ready. "Franz." She said softly. "It's… it's ready."

He glanced down at the screen. Command data was sprawled out across the flashing monitor.

She gazed over at him, wondering what was in her mind. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Once I press this button… everything I knew of Magvel goes up in smoke. Forever."

There was a pregnant pause as he gazed silently at the screen that held the world had once known as his home.

"Once you activate it… We need to get out of here fast." She said softly.

He nodded. "I know."

* * *

Franz took a deep breath, staring silently.

_It was never real anyway._ He told himself.

_No, it was never real… except in my heart. And that's what counts, isn't it?_ Franz sighed and hit the key.

"Let's go." _Goodbye... everyone._

The problem with trying to get out of the building when the security forces of the company was arrayed against them. They significantly outnumbered them, and despite Franz having appropriated two of their firearms, they had much more in the way of firepower, besides.

So. The best way to even up the odds would be to find an army of their own.

And that's where the digital world of Renais came into play. By overriding the behavioural subroutines in the majority of Magvel's military populace, and then transferring them into the real world, they could turn them into extremely efficient engines of destruction.

Behind them, the generators whirred to life, blinding flashes of energy filling the room. Franz sighed. "They'll last about half an hour, right?"

"Right. Then they'll break down and lose coherency altogether." Amelia sighed. "Once we made the breakthrough on stabilizing the conversion of data to matter, it's a simple matter to adjust just how long they can last in a corporeal form before disintegrating."

Franz merely nodded. "C'mon. We've got to get moving."

"Right with you."

* * *

"Dylan!"

At the sound of his name, he glanced up. "Loren? What is it?"

"Have you seen Franz?"

Dylan considered for a moment, then shook his head. "No. Can't say I have." Then he frowned as he looked over Loren's shoulder at the security guards in the area. "What's going on? Is there a prob-"

"Nothing we can't handle." Loren cut him off brusquely. "Just make sure to contact me if you catch sight of Franz. It's urgent."

"Sure thing, boss." Dylan ran a hand through his hair. An instant later, Loren departed.

With a sigh, Dylan stood and walked over to Amelia's desk. It was neatly cleaned out, as per usual.

After pausing to make sure no one was watching him, he hastily grabbed Amelia's image-reel holocube and 'Squeaks', before heading off.

Unnoticed by him, Esther watched him, her arms folded and a worried expression on her face.

* * *

It went about as well as could be expected, Franz later decided. Roaming through the hallways, the reprogrammed soldiers elicited startled shouts and cries of alarm, but they wouldn't attempt to detain anyone unless he or she was seen bearing firearms.

And then, of course, all efforts had to made to attempt a nonlethal containment…

He sighed and turned to Amelia. "This is not the first time it's occurred to either of us what incredible potential this application has? You could generate a supply of drones for nearly any task in the world, infinite resources…"

Amelia laughed. "Franz, you're only just realizing it _now_? Why do you think they pursued the idea with such fervour? It's the holy grail of modern technologists everywhere." Her eyes shined. "It's our best and brightest hope of fixing the world again. It's… still kinda surreal how simple the solution was when we finally cracked it."

Just then, Amelia let out a tiny cry of pain. In an instant, Franz was at her side. "Amelia? What's wrong?"

* * *

Amelia heard Franz's question, but she wasn't sure h4ow to answer. The agony was akin to being set on fire, she figured, only that it seemed to originate from _within_ her.

_Could it be…? Too careless… I was… too careless…_ Fighting to keep her balance, she shook her head. "Franz… my desk. Need… get to my desk."

"…" She could see the worry in his eyes, and to an extent, she shared them. The faster they got out of the building, the better. But still...

"Please." She gasped out.

He hesitated a second longer, and then he nodded.

* * *

The two of them made their way as quickly as they could through the darkened hallways, Amelia leaning on Franz for support, she gritting her teeth and letting out the occasional whimper of pain, he keeping a steady vigil for any security guards that the digital soldiers may have missed.

He had no earthly clue what Amelia wanted from her room – as far as he knew she had already gathered everything she'd needed to leave the place, and it was all waiting in a secure location.

Still, he trusted her. He shook his head, even as that thought flitted through his mind. He'd trusted her before…

"We'll be there soon." He spoke softly to her. "Just hang on."

Just then, Dylan stepped out from behind the corner. "Franz? You know Loren is looking for you?"

Franz sighed. "Tell me something else, Dylan. How about what you're doing here?"

Dylan took a step forward, glancing at the shivering, pale Amelia. "I have what she needs." He said softly.

* * *

"As I recall, her exact question to me was whether or not I wanted to keep getting a paycheck at the expense of my soul and conscience." He said dryly as the three of them hunkered down in a secluded spot. "I think you're rubbing off a bit too much on her."

"As grateful as I am for you deciding to side with us," Franz replied. "I want to know what's the problem with Amelia, and what you have that can help her."

"Right. You'll remember that we recently succeeded in converting pure data to matter." Dylan paused. "Problem was, that only appeared to work only with inorganic units. With organisms the thing became a whole lot more prickly. The stunt you two pulled off just now was the first time the conversion of data to matter was attempted on purely organic beings. There was always the possibility of something as volatile as a living being reacting purely to conversion. That's what's happening now – her body is literally fighting to keep itself from breaking apart at the seams.

"Amelia anticipated that there might be issues, so…" Grabbing onto the stuffed monkey in his hand, he pulled, tearing the fabric open and revealing a tiny vial of amber liquid. "She got her hands on a vial of stabilizer. If the company got wind of it they'd start asking around, so she had to hide it. It'll stabilize the body for a good while – long enough for us to get out of here and get some more of the stuff. It's a temporary solution – our calculations indicate that given long enough, her body should acclimatize and achieve optimal stability on its own. Hold out her arm – I want to get her vein when I inject."

As the two of them busied themselves with the task of saving Amelia's life, Franz glanced at Dylan. "… Thanks." He said softly.

"Hmph. The job market for people who know the things I know is pretty strong. I'll do fine for myself even after leaving this place." Dylan paused. "I'm more worried about you and Amelia. She's talented, but the reason she made it in this company in the first place is because her old man held a pretty prominent position until he passed on," he sighed. "In fact, I think it was around then that the company started going downhill."

The life-giving fluid was pumped into Amelia veins, and she shuddered slightly. "We'll need to let her rest for a couple of minutes." He paused. "Your pet soldiers will last long enough."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Not long enough to save any of you, I'm afraid."

At that sound, Franz and Dylan whirled around to see Loren standing there, with a phalanx of well-armed guards flanking him.

"You've certainly planned this little venture out very well." Loren said, his face stony. "I suppose you can take comfort in the fact that you'll have caused me no end of headaches even after you're long departed from this world."

He raised his arm in a dismissive gesture. "Eliminate them."

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

Next chapter's the last one.

Thank you for reading. Please review.


	14. Chapter 13: Proof of Existence

Proof of Existence

* * *

Final Chapter: Proof of Existence

* * *

Well, this is the end. It's been a while since I updated.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Franz was well acquainted enough with firearms to understand that their tiny size and odd shape belied the true lethality of the weapons. Attempting to shield Amelia from the bullets would likely be a futile gesture; and so swung around, one arm grasping Amelia's own, pulling her body close to himself, and trying to dive out of the way.

He heard the report of the guns, and for a moment he wondered if perhaps they had indeed missed him, after all. Then agony flared through his right arm, and a quick glance there showed a long streak of ragged flesh across the elbow. The bullet hadn't went _inside_ the arm, but in the scheme of things, he was still wounded.

He didn't have time to check how Dylan was faring, as the comatose Amelia's safety took first priority. Reaching for his own weapon, he brought it to bear on the four guards-

Three now. A digitally created Renaitian soldier had interspersed himself between Franz and the guardmen, his blade cutting through the leftmost one's shoulder. The remainder let out various cries of alarm and quickly tried to bring their weapons to bear on the newcomer.

The fight was short and vicious, terminating in the guardmen quickly being incapacitated. The soldier, however, had been severely… well, Franz hesitated to use the term 'wounded', as no blood was actually coming out, but the person was shimmering and flickering, indicating that he wasn't going to maintain coherency for very much longer.

Then he turned to face Franz, and the former knight had to restrain himself from loosing a gasp of horror.

"Ge- general Se…" _No. No. It's not him. It never was. He was never real._ Franz forced the thought down, as the digitally realized being stared straight at him, his expression unreadable.

Finally, it faded away into nothingness and Franz sat back.

"Friend of yours?"

He didn't bother to glance up to acknowledge Dylan. He merely nodded. Then, when he did look up, his eyes were hard.

"Loren's vanished."

"Well, no one ever claimed he wasn't good at looking after his own interests. How's Amelia?" The man sighed as he crawled out from his hiding place.

"Fine." Franz glanced down at the unconscious girl, wishing there was some way he could help her recover faster.

* * *

After fashioning a makeshift bandage for himself from the sleeve of his shirt, Franz shook Amelia's shoulder.

She uttered a low moan and cracked her eyes open. "I…" She mumbled thickly. "The vial…"

"It's all right. Dylan got it for us. I've already given you the dose."

"D- Dylan?" Slowly, Amelia pulled herself into a sitting position, then, glancing around, noticed her colleague's presence for the first time. "You… you came… after all."

The man's face wore an unreadable expression on it. "Yeah, I did. But in case you're wondering, it took more than what you told me to make me budge."

"H-huh?"

The man stood and turned. "We don't have time to sit around and tell each other stories. You well enough to walk?"

In response, Amelia clambered to her feet, and though she wobbled slightly for a while, she nodded. "Fine – I'm fine."

Silently, Franz offered her a supporting arm, and she gratefully accepted. Then the three of them made their way through the halls of the complex as quickly as they could.

* * *

Chaos reigned throughout the area as soldiers from a seemingly medieval era roamed through the building, systematically disarming anyone who appeared to be carrying a firearm. Most of the standard employees had already fled at the first sight of the soldiers, and a large portion of the guards, although disciplined, were quickly outnumbered.

And so it was that as the trio continued their trek, the met no one else on their way.

_Kinda eerie, when you think about it._ Amelia thought. Out loud, she said, "Dylan, you were saying something about how it took more than what I said to convince you?"

Dylan nodded. "You're the first success of the Energy-Matter Transferal project, and even then you're still pretty unstable."

"Don't I know it." Amelia muttered. The searing pain that had tormented her so recently was still fresh in her mind. "Anyway, what's that got to do with anything?"

"Yeah, just let me finish, alright?" Her colleague sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Anyway, like I said, you're the first success, and the higher ups don't know about you yet – to them the final investigations are still pending. Anyway, after you told me about Franz – and apparently since Esther knew, I'm the only own who _didn't_ – I decided to do some searching of my own, concerning procedures to be taken if we met success on our project."

"And what did you find?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Once we've completed the project, there was zero indication of what they planned on actually doing with the tech."

"What? That's nuts. Surely they would've put into place _some_ preliminary utilization functions." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Franz was steadily tuning out the rest of their conversation as he kept a careful eye out for potential hostiles.

"Of course – that's standard procedure. Which would be why the fact that nothing was there was so surprising." Dylan sighed. "So, well, ordinarily I'd let sleeping dogs lie, but after what you told me, I decided that it merited further investigation."

A frown creased Amelia's face. "I'm probably not going to like this, am I?"

"No, I don't think you will. Admittedly I wasn't able to get too deep – they've got good security and trying to crack it would have alerted them that something was up – but from what I could find… well, you know how we always theorized that we could use the potential for infinite resources to restore the world's atmosphere?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Well… look, Amelia, I didn't have much info to work on, but from what I could dig up, well, they don't plan on using the tech for any of that sort of thing."

"Okay, so what _do_ they plan on using it for?" She said with a fair amount of impatience, partly influenced by the fact that she couldn't shake the feeling that they were taking entirely too long to reach the exit.

"…Apparently, not much. But records indicate that if the World Restoration Project starts making significant headway, they'll step in to impede it. With the Matter Conversion technology."

"What?" Amelia's frown sharpened. "That's insane! Why would _anyone_ want to prevent the World Restoration…" Her voice trailed off uncertainly as a host of unpleasant thoughts made its way into her mind.

"Right now the executives hold most of the power in the biosphere, nominal or otherwise. That's because they already oversee so much of the essential services in the place, such as the power supply, the water purification systems…" Dylan continued. "The higher-ups – they're afraid of giving up that power. And that's why they're doing what they're doing."

Amelia pursed her lips, contemplating the issue for several minutes. "And… and that was what made you decide to join us?"

He shrugged. "Come on, time's wasting."

* * *

Esther had never considered herself particularly smart. Or beautiful. She personified the idea of a 'plain jane', with the possible exception of the fact that her name was in fact not Jane.

As chaos raged around the building, she sat at her desk, staring silently at her computer screen. The tiny blue bar was taking _forever_ to cross the screen. Oh, well, at least it was almost done…

She'd long since ascertained that the soldiers weren't interested in anyone who wasn't behaving in a hostile manner, and thus she was (mostly) secure in doing what she was doing. All around them the intercom was urging everyone to stay calm and move to the designated 'secure' areas until the problem was solved.

She sighed, discreetly peeking at her chronometer. Well, there was not much time left. They would have to make do.

An observer, had one been close by, would have noted a stack of discs at the side of her desk, each one labeled. And after there was a soft 'ding' sound, and a final disc was ejected from the computer. Barely pausing to slip the disc into a case, and the cases into the bag she was carrying, she stood and begun walking.

* * *

"Locked down?" Amelia cried anxiously as she tapped a series of interface commands into the magna-lift controls. Like the previous two attempts, she met with absolutely no success whatsoever.

Dylan frowned, cupping his chin. "If I had to guess, I'd say it was your little stunt with the soldiers that caused this. Security doesn't want them going free into the rest of the Biosphere. Nevermind any potential wounded that would need to be brought to med bays as quickly as possible."

Amelia rubbed her forehead. "I know. And I'd placed some safeguards to delay the lockdown taking effect-"

"Not well enough, then."

While the two of them continued their efforts to get the lift working again, Franz frowned, all his senses on high alert. While he couldn't pinpoint the sense of his unease any more than he could help Amelia with fixing the lift, he nonetheless swept his gaze across the shadowed hallways, seeking out the threat.

"Hurry up, would you?" Dylan's impatient voice swept around.

"What, am I supposed to bust out a set of hacker skills I've been keeping to myself all this while?" Came Amelia' annoyed barb back at him. "Just cool your bree-"

And out of the corner of his eye, Franz caught the barest glint of metal shifting.

He wasn't aware of himself bursting into action to throw himself in front of Amelia, nor was he aware of him bringing his gun up to bear. The next thing he _was_ aware of was the burning pain in his right shoulder, and his weapon falling with a dull 'thud' onto the carpeted floor. He winced, staggered back, and would have fallen had Amelia not rushed to his side, trying to support him.

_He got me… did I get him?_ The roaring pain had caused tears to rush to his eyes, and as he tried to blink them away, he caught sight of a blurred form sprawled on the ground some meters ahead, unmoving.

And then Dylan was looking over him, concerned. "Bleeding looks bad. We need to get him to a med bay, stat."

Franz groaned. "I'll be fine," he managed to mutter. "Focus on… on the lift."

With a last worried look at him, Amelia quickly returned to her task. Meanwhile, raising his unmauled arm to wipe away his tears of pain, he finally managed to see the sprawled form clearly.

"Loren…" Franz whispered to himself. "What the hell were you trying to do?" Well, there was no time to mourn the passing of the man, even had he been so inclined.

A fresh wave of pain caused him to look over at the wounded section of his shoulder. Unlike the _earlier_ wound, the bullet had pierced flesh this time, but if the wound itself was any indication, it hadn't stopped in his arm, instead puncturing. "At the rate I'm going, this arm will need to be amputated." Franz muttered, only half-joking.

"I think I've got it!" Amelia's excited shout resounded, and a second later the doors to the magna lift hummed open. "Hurry up, if anyone notices the breach and comes sniffing, it won't be pretty."

Staggering into the lift, Franz instinctively braced himself as the transportation device shot skyward.

They were home free. He could relax now… right?

* * *

Almost before they emerged into the upper level, Amelia could already tell something was wrong. Not with Franz, who simply stood cradling his wounded arm, behaving with remarkable resilience for someone who'd apparently been shot twice in the span of half of hour. Not with Dylan, who despite his silence, was someone she still trusted.

"Esther?"

Her friend and colleague nodded. "You're late." She said softly.

"We got delayed." Amelia replied. Her friend could see clearly enough that Franz was badly wounded. "And how were things on your end?"

"I couldn't get _everything_, but I got most of what was needed." She shifted her gaze to meet Dylan. "So you joined up, huh? Our little band of moralists."

Dylan merely nodded.

"We need to get as far away from here as possible." Amelia said softly. "Our first priority is getting a med bay for Franz."

Esther nodded her acquiescence, and the four of them set out down the street.

* * *

"Franz…?" Amelia appeared at his bedside, a concerned look on his face. "How're you feeling?"

"Better." He said noncommittally. "I've had plenty of time for thinking." _About me, my life, and what's in store for us._

The blonde nodded wearily. "The doctor says you can leave the ward later today."

"That's good."

"Mm." Amelia paused. "I've… already made all the preparations we could, Franz. Once you're recovered, we're heading out for the Arcadia biosphere. Staying in Elysium any longer would be dangerous for us."

"I thought as much." Franz said wearily. "From what you've told me I know our esteemed company has men searching for us. Nothing too indiscreet of course, because they don't want prying eyes, but…"

Amelia sighed. "You'd better rest first, Franz. Don't worry, I'll wake you up when it's time to leave."

Heeding her words, Franz closed his eyes and sank back into his pillow, letting unconsciousness claim him.

* * *

"It's funny…" Franz said softly as he stared at the biosphere receding in the distance. "I'd come to think of it as home too."

In the seat next to him, Amelia closed her eyes. "This is what we wanted, isn't it? A fresh start. A break with everything old that held us back."

"And now that it's here…" Franz sighed. "I've been through this once already, you know." He paused. "At least this time I had some warning before everything got upended."

Amelia nodded. "We won't do badly for ourselves, Franz. Esther managed to get enough from the databanks that we can still recreate the Matter Conversion tech - and the governments will be very interested in such as offer."

The hovercraft was making good time – Amelia estimated they'd reach their destination in four hours or so. Maybe a bit less.

"Amelia?" Franz began. "Could I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"Back when… back when the first problems with Magvel started. Back when you'd first thought of extracting me from the Worldframe… did you ever imagine that it could ever come to this?"

Amelia shook her head slowly. "No… no, I couldn't. I suppose it's only fair, huh? I ended up destroying everything you believed in… and now it's come full circle." She closed her eyes. "I… I never really did get a chance to thank you."

"Thank me?"

"Well, at the end of it all, I ruined you life. Twice. But you still… you still tried to move past it, tried to… forgive…" Franz looked over to see tears running silently down her cheeks.

"We've been through this, Amelia." Franz reached over, resting his hand on hers. "Enough of that, okay?"

She sighed, nodded, and tried to smile.

"We've both lost everything we had now." Franz continued to speak softly. "Maybe it's just me speaking from experience, but we bounce back. We take stock of what we had, what we left behind… and we move on." He smiled. "Weren't you the one who taught me that?"

Amelia chuckled. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I was."

The two of them sat in comfortable silence as the hovercraft continued on its way through the sky.

Towards the future.

* * *

**The End?**

* * *

Well, I am completely unsatisfied with how this story turned out for a large variety of reasons, but hey, maybe you thought otherwise. If you feel inclined, please leave a review.

Thanks.


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